The myth which says that Apple’s operating system, OS X is more protected against hacker attacks than other operating systems was once again dismissed. A critical vulnerability that could affect Mac users proved so dangerous that led the Cupertino company to publish for the first time in history, an automatic update. Vulnerability found in NTP (Network Time Protocol) allows hackers to initiate DDoS attacks that can affect many Unix-based systems, including Linux and OS X. Security problem found in NTP protocol (and sensed this time by specialists from Google), prompted Apple to publish first automatic update for Mac OS X Yosemite Mountain Lion and Mavericks and recommend users to update their operating systems “as soon as possible ” .
According to Kaspersky Lab security expert, vulnerability of NTP is more widespread than previously thought, it can affect a larger number of consumers.
“The software is installed on everything from consumer gadgets to critical infrastructure; it’s possible to execute malicious code on both servers and clients, a dream situation for worms which can spread very quickly by compromising servers and then all their clients,” .
“As Macs have grown in market share we have seen a matching correlation with attacks,” said Patrick Nielsen, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab . “It’s just that they’ve become much more interesting to attackers . ”
Apple discusses the NTP fix here, saying that the updated versions will be the following as reported by the ‘what’ command.
