The same hackers who targeted Facebook have also gone after Apple and infiltrated a small number of the company’s computers, Apple said Tuesday.
Apple confirmed the attack in a statement to The Washington Post, saying that no user information had been compromised. According to the tech giant, the malware found its way into Mac systems through a vulnerability in a browser plug-in for Oracle’s Java program.
The company said that no consumer information has been compromised.
The Web’s “Kevin Bacon” number: Most Web pages can be connected in 19 clicks, study says.
Google’s stock price topped $800 for the first time Monday.
“The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers,” said a company spokesman. “We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple. We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware.”
The company will release software on Tuesday that will help to protect consumers against the malware used in the attacks, the company said.
Apple has not shipped computers with Java installed since the introduction of OS X Lion (version 10.6), and the company’s computers automatically disable Java in browsers if it has not been used in more than 35 days.
The hackers who attacked Apple have been linked to the same Chinese-based group that infiltrated Facebook last month.
On Friday, Facebook disclosed that it had uncovered evidence of a hack in January, and said that there was no evidence that user information had been compromised. High-profile cyber attacks have also hit news organizations, including The Washington Post and the New York Times.
A report from the Alexandria-based Mandiant security firm tied 140 attacks on U.S. and foreign corporations and entities to the Chinese military — accusations that the Chinese government has firmly denied.
Cybersecurity has become a top priority for the Obama administration. In conjunction with last week’s State of the Union Address, the White House issued a cybersecurity executive order directing the Commerce Department to work with companies in vital industries to craft rules for sharing cyber threat information with the government.
Congress is expected to follow suit with cybersecurity proposals of its own, after failing to pass sweeping legislation last year. Last week, members of the House Intelligence Committee reintroduced the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which makes provisions for public-private data sharing. The measure has drawn some fire from privacy and open-Internet advocates who think the sharing measures don’t do enough to protect user privacy.
(The Washington Post Co.’s chairman and chief executive, Donald E. Graham, is a member of Facebook’s board of directors.)
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