Framed For Porn?

[mrjarrell]

It could happen to you, as it's happened to others. Not just run of the mill porn, either but, kid porn. Your anti-virus might not even catch it. Yet another reason to use a Mac. This is scary stuff you Windows folks have coming at ya.

Framed for child porn

Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.
Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses — the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen.
Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.
Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer — and might not realize it until police knock at your door.
An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence.
Their situations are complicated by the fact that actual pedophiles often blame viruses — a defense rightfully viewed with skepticism by law enforcement.
"It's an example of the old `dog ate my homework' excuse," says Phil Malone, director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The problem is, sometimes the dog does eat your homework."
The AP's investigation included interviewing people who had been found with child porn on their computers. The AP reviewed court records and spoke to prosecutors, police and computer examiners.
One case involved Michael Fiola, a former investigator with the Massachusetts agency that oversees workers' compensation.
In 2007, Fiola's bosses became suspicious after the Internet bill for his state-issued laptop showed that he used 4 1/2 times more data than his colleagues. A technician found child porn in the PC folder that stores images viewed online.
Fiola was fired and charged with possession of child pornography, which carries up to five years in prison. He endured death threats, his car tires were slashed and he was shunned by friends.
Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees. They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their car.
An inspection for his defense revealed the laptop was severely infected. It was programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute — an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half.
Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped — 11 months after it was filed.

More at the source

Too bad they didn't name the viruses responsible for this. It'd give people something to look out for. Then again there are so many new ones each day that it's impossible to keep track. Go Mac, Go Linux. Stay safe out there.

 

[Benny]

Wow, that is scary stuff.

I'm running a virus scan as we speak.

 

[hornadylnl]

This is why I won't take my computer to a store to have it worked on. With all the viruses and emails we get, how do we know that there isn't this crap making it on to our computers?

Are macs truly immune from this stuff or do the hackers just not make viruses for them like they do pc's?

 

[OneBadV8]

This is why I won't take my computer to a store to have it worked on. With all the viruses and emails we get, how do we know that there isn't this crap making it on to our computers?

Are macs truly immune from this stuff or do the hackers just not make viruses for them like they do pc's?

There are more and more viruses hitting the macs just when the market share is 10% you don't hear about it everywhere. as they get more popular, there will be more to come I'm sure.

 

[Fletch]

There are more and more viruses hitting the macs just when the market share is 10% you don't hear about it everywhere. as they get more popular, there will be more to come I'm sure.

This is true, but it is also true that Macs are based on a much more mature operating system (Unix), which is much less of a playground for bad behavior. I don't know how far Windows has come in terms of security, but I do remember back in the Windows 98/2000/XP transition we were doing tricks where you could peek into the memory of another process, which is one of the avenues of attack used by virus writers. Microsoft also makes inherently unsafe interoperability between programs, where Apple does not.

I guess the best way to describe it would be to say that if there is any option that allows a program to do something that would be "more functional", but is also a security risk, Microsoft has that option turned on by default, but Apple has it turned off. That's a broad overgeneralization, but it highlights the difference in philosophy.

A lot of the Windows vulnerabilities came about in the mid 1990's when Microsoft decided that the best idea EVAR was to make every application VB-scriptable by default, especially the Office products. Now you could script a Word document to send customized versions of itself to various people in your address book! And of course the first thing the malware guys did was figure out how to self-replicate the behavior and "Exchange virus" scripts were tearing apart corporate intranets with regularity.

You'd think Microsoft would learn from this, but they still have this desire to have every program talk to every other program, and that just leaves your computer wide open for all sorts of shenanigans. Apple does that sort of interoperability only with great care and paranoia, and that's a lot of what makes them safer. They can and will still have problems with security holes, but generally speaking it's harder to get to a Mac than a Windows computer because most of the attack vectors are already shut down. A novice user on a Windows machine is a virus waiting to happen. The same user on a Mac will usually be safe from things that go bump on your hard drive.

 

[mrjarrell]

This is why I won't take my computer to a store to have it worked on. With all the viruses and emails we get, how do we know that there isn't this crap making it on to our computers?

Are macs truly immune from this stuff or do the hackers just not make viruses for them like they do pc's?

There are no known viruses out there for Mac OS X. There have been instances of trojans, as I recall but only a couple. It's not a matter of immunity, per se, but one of having a modern OS and constant vigilance on the part of Apple. Someday there may well be more out there, but that day is a long way off (knock on wood). From an older newsgroup discussion.

With today's cyber-threats and focus on computer security, it's no
surprise that many people are ditching their Windows PCs for Macs
running OS X. Even Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads highlight the security
issues that plague Windows. The requirement to protect Windows
installations from viruses, spyware and malware, have prompted many to
make the switch.

No viruses for Mac OS X

It's well known that there are no known viruses for the Mac OS X
operating system despite it being on the market for over seven years.
As of this writing, Mac OS X is virus-free. There have been some
attempted exploits in the past but those relied on social engineering.
A prime example was the trojan in 2006. It required several actions to
be undertaken by the user in order for the trojan to propagate. Viruses
on the other hand accomplish their work without the end user knowing.

At a very high level, I'll highlight the two most common reasons I've
come across that are used by those who attempt to explain that no
viruses exist for Mac OS X.

Reason 1: Small market share

Some people say the reason no viruses exist for Macs is that it's not
worth the time for writers to focus on creating viruses for the Mac OS X
operating system because of its market share. There's no doubt that Mac
OS X has a significantly smaller market share than Windows. A common
argument is that writers would rather focus on creating viruses and
malware for Windows.

Reason 2 Mac OS X is a modern operating system

Some will say that OS X is a modern operating system that is built on a
secure UNIX foundation. It is also argued that Apple has taken a big
picture approach to security as it applies to operating system design
and implementation. The fact that Mac OS X was created after the
Internet gives it a more secure architecture that makes it less
susceptible to unauthorized access and malicious attacks.

Apple's stance on virus protection:

Apple as early as this year encouraged Mac users to install virus and
security software on Macs. Note that the page on which the
recommendation was made no longer exists on Apple's web site but it can
be viewed at the Internet archive here.

What's your take?

The goal here is to not give my opinion but open it up to readers so
that they can have their say. Also, do you think Mac users should run
security software? Simply post your response or feedback in the comments
section below.

Note that a more recent trend over the past few years is for attackers
to exploit the software installed on an operating system and not
necessarily the operating system itself.

Linux, which lays at the core of OS X is also very secure. I've used Windows and Macs for years, I no longer have a functional Windows machine, the risks are just too great these days.

 

[IndyParts]

Mac's are good machines but will eventually become just as big of a target as a Microsoft OS.

 

[ihateiraq]

This is why I won't take my computer to a store to have it worked on.

yea. me too.

 

[alwalker84]

Man, I cant imagine having to try and explain this...