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Jan 16, 09 - 12:57 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

I feel safer already...

...well I feel dumber since I don't understand what the hell he's talking about!! lol

Jan 16, 09 - 01:03 pm Comment from: Jubei

@Hu?

Translation: It's way safer than Windows in whatever BS flavor MS is selling version to the clueless Windows zombies.

Jan 16, 09 - 01:04 pm Comment from: doc

Cool!

What it means:

Think of is as no one being able to alter your term paper or a quarterly report AFTER you have turned the documents in where in the past someone could alter docs after they were turned in.

Jan 16, 09 - 01:22 pm Comment from: wannabe

For those who want an explanation --

Breaking security frequently involves tricking some program into writing your code into its own memory space. Say you have a login program that isn't too finicky about checking how long the user name is... if you give it a name that's too long, it could bust out of the space allocated for it and start to overwrite part of the login program itself. Turn that into a carefully crafted string which is really a miniature program, and boom, you're in.

Careful coding can prevent this stuff but most real-world programs have bugs, some of them serious. When programs crash they often go a bit haywire, and provide an opening for those who carefully study exactly what happens to try and manipulate the results. So in addition to improving code, it's often helpful to make some rules and enforce them in hardware. Rules like "this memory space is my program's code, so don't let me write there -- and this is where my data goes, so don't let me execute in there."

It helps further to move things around so that the malicious miniature programs have a tough time figuring out what's what even if they do manage to run. In 64-bit you'd have a huge address space to try to scan for something that looks like a useful library routine.

All you guys are funny!

/* Think of is as no one being able to alter your term paper or a quarterly report AFTER you have turned the documents in where in the past someone could alter docs after they were turned in. */

So in essence- if program code is loaded whether it be a full featured app or daemon- there are protection bits to prevent them from being swapped / altered while in memory. I think?

Jan 16, 09 - 02:58 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

Picture a homeless guy walking around Manhattan jiggling door knobs. He might find a few around the wharf but he's not going to strike it rich dumpster diving.

It means that if you hit on that blonde barmaid, Mandy, you might get some action tonight but tomorrow that drunk is not even going to remember who you are so you are going to have to start all over again. The alcohol is ASLR, and Mandy is not executable. Don't overthink this, people. Her trouble is she is too easy when she's drunk, and she overcompensates when she's sober by tightening up like Bubba's cellmate's sphincter on prison movie night. At least she can be counted on for a generous pour though. Anyway, bottom line, the system will be snappier because you won't be running Norton. And your life will be easier because you can just move on, stop wasting the energy on Mandy, and pick up a nice aerobics instructor at the gym.

I think you all know what I'm saying.

I feel safer and snappier....

/* ...if you hit on that blonde barmaid, Mandy, you might get some action tonight..." */

Good enough for me.

Jan 16, 09 - 08:33 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

Great article. Any Mac fan who has to argue with Windows nuts about security should read it.

And it blends, too!

Jan 17, 09 - 05:26 am Comment from: MacSheikh

@ Sum Jung Gai

Finally! I was waiting to see who'd be the first to say "snappier".

Jan 17, 09 - 01:13 pm Comment from: BC Kelly

To Sam Jung Gal


Damn interesting analogy

Glad we have someone around who can take a very difficult subject

And put it in terms easily understood by the average MDN reader









BC

...sooooo.. what does this mean for the Core Duo macs that aren't 64 bit but runs 32-bits... my core duo macbook pro runs like a dream.. but it seems like i'm screwed now in terms of enjoying snow leopard.. thanx apple!.. preciate it!!