Macenstein

Facebook app rips off the MySpace experience

Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Aimee for the tip!  Read More

Prepare to freak out! iPhone developers are using apps to pass your phone number to telemarketers

Our good friends over at the French Mac site Mac4Ever have alerted us to a somewhat alarming development. Apparently a few days after purchasing the Swiss app MogoRoad, a free radar tracking application, users are reporting receiving telephone calls asking them if they’d like to purchase the FULL version of the application. When asked how the caller had obtained their number, the responses vary, but generally the person tells you that Apple sent them their number at the... Read More

Full FileMaker client coming to iPhone – FileMaker 11 coming soon

Despite increased security, a naughty little bird reports from inside the FileMaker conference this weekend giving us a few details about FileMaker 11, as well as news that we can expect a full FileMaker client for the iPhone to drop very soon. “filemaker for iphone is very near. im at the conference right now. They seem to be very careful n this news and we all had to sign for it too… crazy unlike other filemakers.. also filemaker 11 as well. Some of the new features... Read More

New Mac Trojan appears in pirated versions of Photoshop CS4 – 5,000 infected so far

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Just Say No to Torrents, kids!” Uh oh… another week, another Mac Trojan horse discovered. This time around, it’s folks who are downloading cracked copies of Adobe Photoshop CS4 from BitTorrent sites that are in danger. According to Mac Security Software maker Intego (who discovered last week’s iWork 09 virus) the Photoshop trojan is a new variation on the OSX.Trojan.iServices virus found last... Read More

SecureMac bails out iWork pirates with its “iWorkServices Trojan Removal Tool”

“OK kids, Mommy’s going to bail you out THIS time, but if we ever catch you downloading pirated version of Apple software again, so help me you will have no iPhone for a MONTH! Do you hear me? Thus are the words I assume SecureMac was thinking when it decided to release its “iWorkServices Trojan Removal Tool“, a free utility that will remove the iWorkServices Trojan virus which was spread last week via pirated copies of iWork 09 on BitTorrent sites. It’s... Read More

New Mac OS X Trojan Horse found in Pirated iWork ’09 software

Attention cheapskates and software pirates! At least 20,000 people have downloaded a pirated copy of iWork 09 from BitTorrent sites containing a malicious Mac Trojan Horse virus, according to security software maker Intego. Upon installation, the OSX.Trojan.iServices.A Trojan Horse, which stows away inside the cracked iWork 09 package, gains read-write-execute permissions for root, and then allows for a malicious user to connect to the Mac remotely. From Intego: Exploit: OSX.Trojan.iServices.A... Read More

Interview: Examining the seedy world of Mac OS X Forensics

We all know that good guys use Macs, and the bad guys use PCs, right? Well, so do law enforcement agencies, which is why nearly 100% of the training given to law enforcement’s digital forensic specialists has traditionally dealt with how to handle a Windows machine at a crime scene. But what about the one or two “bad Apples” (pun intended) out there? What if you are a first responder to a crime scene and you find a MacBook sitting there amidst all the piles of... Read More

After a hectic 48 hours, Aurora Feint is back online

Well, it’s been a hectic couple of days for the programmers behind Aurora Feint, the highly acclaimed (and then highly criticized) free RPG puzzle game for iPhone. Earlier this week word broke that Aurora Feint’s “community” feature was copying user’s contact lists, and when used, sending them out to Aurora Feint’s servers, unencrypted. Security buffs panned AF’s 2 young developers, who to their credit admitted their mistake, claiming... Read More

Is Aurora Feint the iPhone’s first Spyware?

A bit liberal with user’s data? Definitely. Spyware? I doubt it. There has recently been a bit of a buzz on the internet surrounding the extremely popular iPhone/iPod touch game Aurora Feint. I am a big fan of Aurora Feint, so I was a bit shocked to hear that apparently some people who have gotten SSH running on their iPhones under the new firmware have discovered that Aurora Feint creates a copy of all the e-mail addresses and phone numbers in your contacts list, and stores... Read More

Celebrity Mac Chick sighting: Hannah Montanna… err… Miley Cyrus

Cyber hacker extraordinaire trainreq apparently hacked into Miley Cyrus‘ iPhone last month and found some semi-racy photos she has taken of herself last year meant for Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. Given her Vanity Fair debacle, Miley should really stay clear of cameras. If you don’t know who any of these people are, you are more lucky than you know. Unfortunately, I hear I will be taking my 6-year old daughter to see Miley “Hannah Montanna” Cyrus... Read More