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Leopard’s Firewall Incapable of Stopping Hackers

A security investigator alleged that Apple's latest Operating System OS X Leopard's firewall was flawed and incapable of stopping cyber-terrorists.

Security expert of Heise Security Jurgen Schmidt in his report asserted that the Leopard firewall had fallen short of all security trial conducted by the company.

The primary job of any firewall is to prevent unwelcome visitors, informed Schmidt, according to news reported by Vnunet on October 31, 2007. However, a glance at Mac OS X Leopard's firewall configuration indicates that it is incapable of functioning effectively.

Leopard, the latest variant of OS X, was introduced on October 26 and after that, Apple asserts to have sold or distributed over two million copies of the program.

However, a trial of Leopard by Jurgen Schmidt discovered that the firewall in the upgraded program was turned off and permitted all types of inbound net connection.

Mr. Schmidt also observed that loading an updated version of the program to a computer whose firewall was operational would cause this defensive program to be deactivated when that machine was started again.

He also observed that even after the firewall re-started, it kept the consumers in the dark regarding all the prospective dangerous programs operating on that computer.

Schmidt alleged that above all, these outcomes indicate that consumers cannot depend on the firewall.

Even if the consumers have opted for 'obstruct every incoming connection' facility, prospective hackers can keep in contact with the system services, like the time server or the NetBIOS domain name server.

Speaking on behalf of Heise, the Website's Editor, Mike Barwise, alleged that it was a grave situation. It bestowed an illusory notion of security, which is riskier than a real need of protection, reported the BBC NEWS on October 31, 2007.

Rather than dealing with detected glitches in the firewall, an Apple representative informed eWEEK that the firm is very earnest about matters regarding security and has an exceptionally good record of dealing with every kind of prospective flaws before they can infect the computers. Furthermore, the firm always invites opinion on ways of improving the Mac's security.

Related article: Liberty Tax Issues Alert of phishing Scam

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