Intego’s Software Present and Accounted For at New Boston Apple Store

Apple has just opened a new retail store in Boston, and, in pictures of browsers checking out software, Intego’s boxes are prominent. You can see the green Intego boxes in this picture: at the top-center, you can see two ContentBarrier boxes; below them is an Internet Security Barrier Dual Protection box. Intego is proud to have its software present at all of Apple’s stores, both retail and online.

Safari’s Private Browsing Stores Some User Data

Apple’s Safari web browser offers a “private browsing” feature, which prevents storage of store browser history, download history, auto-fill entries, Google searches (in the Search field), and cookies. It turns out, though, according to an article on MacFixit, that some data gets recorded. Plug-ins, such as Flash Player, are not affected by Safari’s private browsing setting.

The article concludes by saying, “As such, if you’d like your browsing to be even more private, turn off plug-ins. In Safari, this can be accomplished by going to Safari > Preferences > Security and deselecting ‘Enable plug-ins.’”

Another Mac OS X Server Hack?

In a recent article, we reported on Tom Yager, a journalist for InfoWorld, who suspected that his Mac OS X server was hacked. Tom has since written about a root exploit he discovered, and now continues discussing this exploit and the effects it has had, turning his server into a spam zombie. Intego’s researchers believe this is the result of an OpenSSH vulnerability that has just been discovered, which affects multiple Unix- or Linux-based platforms. We would recommend that, until Apple patches this flaw, users keep an eye open, especially on their servers. Yager’s articles give a good idea what to look for.

And the Winner Is: Intego VirusBarrier

The latest issue of MacFormat Magazine, the UK’s leading Mac publication, has a no-holds-barred test of six Mac antivirus programs, and guess who comes up the winner? Intego VirusBarrier X5! The editors tested six aspects of a half-dozen Mac virus protection program (such as ease of installation, ease of use, level of protection, ease of updating), and came up with a clear winner. As MacFormat says, “Intego’s VirusBarrier is the one to go for if you want excellent virus protection in a Mac-friendly package.” They summed up their review saying, about VirusBarrier, “It’s easy to update, it’s Mac-friendly and it runs unobtrusively. VirusBarrier is a great all-around system protector.”

Unfortunately, MacFormat doesn’t put its articles online, so we can’t link to it for you to read the entire test. If you’re in the UK, pick up the magazine, which coincidently includes a demo version of VirusBarrier X5 on its included DVD. But if it does come online in the future, rest assured that we’ll let you know.

Microsoft Office Update Contains Security Fixes

Microsoft has released Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1, a major update to Office 2008, which also contains some security fixes that Microsoft says are critical. In Microsoft’s security bulletin describing the issues, the company says:

“This security update resolves several privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Word file. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.”

Whatever the vulnerabilities, the effects could be disastrous. It is rare that we see something that could allow attackers to create new accounts, install programs, and delete data. It is strongly recommended that you install this update immediately.

But the security fixes are not just for Office 2008. They cover Office 2004, as well as just about every version of Office for Windows. You can download the Office 2008 update here; it’s 180 MB. The Office 2004 update is here; it’s only 9 MB.

Laptop Thieves Nabbed by .Mac

Kait Duplaga, an Apple store employee, who lives in White Plains, NY, had two of her Apple laptops stolen from her home. Being a savvy Mac user, when Kait found that her Mac was being used (a friend saw her on iChat, showing that one of the computers had logged onto iChat automatically) she went into CSI mode. She used the “Back to My Mac” feature included with .Mac accounts to remotely access the laptop, then snapped a picture of the user. Showing the picture to friends, the person was identified as having attended a party at Kait’s apartment. The police took things from there, arresting two men for burglary, and recovering nearly all the stolen property.