Intel based machine hackability?
Thought someone here might have some info on this. There are people I know saying its going to be trivial taking the Mac OS and recompiling to run on any Intel box. They say it wont take much work and whatever Apple does to prevent this will be easily hackable. Any comments on this?
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"I did a little research on this. You'll be looking at a standard Pentium4 proc on a motherboard with TPM -- a hardware cryptography module containing a 2kbyte RSA public&private keypair (hardcoded into the module) and some software API to handle digital signatures & crypto via the TPM.
RSA is a standard key algorithm that's used in software all over the place: SSL certificates, OpenSSH keys, and some PGP keys. It can be implemented in software using the readily available OpenSSL package, just as the TPM would implement it.
My guess is that one of two things will happen: either
1) MacOS will just check for the TPM hardware, which would be too easy to override (though that's what previous versions have done up to this point) or
2) MacOS will use the keys to sign some piece of code or some files, requiring their decryption or signature validation in order to run.
the 2nd scenario would me much more difficult (but not improbable) to crack, requiring replacement of the TPM driver with hooks that emulate the TPM in software, via a self-generated pair of RSA keys from OpenSSL or some other software implementation."
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"I did a little research on this. You'll be looking at a standard Pentium4 proc on a motherboard with TPM -- a hardware cryptography module containing a 2kbyte RSA public&private keypair (hardcoded into the module) and some software API to handle digital signatures & crypto via the TPM.
RSA is a standard key algorithm that's used in software all over the place: SSL certificates, OpenSSH keys, and some PGP keys. It can be implemented in software using the readily available OpenSSL package, just as the TPM would implement it.
My guess is that one of two things will happen: either
1) MacOS will just check for the TPM hardware, which would be too easy to override (though that's what previous versions have done up to this point) or
2) MacOS will use the keys to sign some piece of code or some files, requiring their decryption or signature validation in order to run.
the 2nd scenario would me much more difficult (but not improbable) to crack, requiring replacement of the TPM driver with hooks that emulate the TPM in software, via a self-generated pair of RSA keys from OpenSSL or some other software implementation."
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Comments
If someone hack mac os X, there is a lot of chances that he will encounter compatibility problems. Therefore only geeks will hack mac os X, and the average consumer joe will not be tempted.
Originally posted by musical73
Thought someone here might have some info on this. There are people I know saying its going to be trivial taking the Mac OS and recompiling to run on any Intel box. They say it wont take much work and whatever Apple does to prevent this will be easily hackable. Any comments on this?
First, they would need the source code. Hacking into 1 Infinite Loop and finding every bits and pieces of code you need is a bit harder to do.
That is how Apple has been handling it with iTunes and FairPlay.
The time wasted is more than the $499 shell out for a dang Mini anyway. Oh, did you think the Mini was intended to be anything but an eye-opener for the Wintel crowd wanting to switch? It's not like they invested serious R&D on the Mini - they knew the switch was coming. Now, it just eases them into the intended market a lot more easily.