Hackmageddon.com

The same sophisticated cyber attack that has targeted Facebook and Twitter has also targeted Apple, according to an exclusive revelation by Reuters. In this latest occurrence,  the attackers were able to infect several Mac computers belonging to some employees of Cupertino, exploiting the same 0-Day Java vulnerability used to carry on the attacks against the two well known social networks.

Further details have emerged in the meantime: particularly noticeable is the fact that the attackers used the consolidated “watering hole” technique, compromising a well-known mobile developer forum (iphonedevsdk.com) accessed by the employees of Cupertino (and of many other high profile companies). This has raised the concern that maybe the attackers aimed to manipulate the code of smartphone apps to compromise a huge number of users. Currently the forums shows a banner inviting users to change their passwords.

Apple is working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has released an update to disable its Java SE 6. Although there is no clear evidence about the Chinese origin of the attack, unfortunately it comes out in the worst possible period: after the wave of attacks against U.S. Media, Mandiant, the firm that investigated the attack against the NYT, released a detailed report suggesting a link between the hacks against U.S. assets. and the Chinese Army.