My 14 year-old cat has beaten iBook security. Please help.

The simplest explanation is that the cat entered your password at the prompt.

The simplest solution is to change your password.

Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

The password protected screensaver provides really weak security. I've gotten out of it by jamming random keys before, on my first try. I don't think you have to know the password to get out of it. Either it's just bad or there's some universal escape command that is pretty easy to hit, but it's definitely not a password issue so don't worry too much.

I think the actual problem is disk damage (probably got damaged along with the screen...).
First, please backup your work! This is important!
Then close all apps and run the Disk Utility. Select your disk and click "Verify". This might take a while to complete. Did it say there were errors found on the disk?
If it did, you'll have to boot off your install disk and run Disk Utility from there to fix the drive.
If the Verify process shows you have errors on the disk, I'd replace it.
I hope you have backups. And the cat isn't evil. She's probably just trying to warn you not to trust the damaged notebook!

HTH,

-=W=-

Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

...Is this a joke? I find it hard to believe that only one, maybe two people thusfar have even considered the possibility that this may be due to some sort of, excuse the term, "hackers." It's pretty much a common stance that Macs (yes, even 10.4.9) are easy to exploit, and it's proven to be more true every week. Try disconnecting it from the internet for a week, see what happens. If it still happens, automated scripts to change settings aren't exactly hard to make, so it means nothing...

Put a laundry basket upside down or a box over your computer when you walk away since you cant close the laptop. However, as a cat owner myself, boxes tend to attract cats... 🙂

Are you running the latest version of OS X with all the security upgrades installed? There used to be a bug (it was a looong time ago, though) in the ScreenSaver app that would cause it to crash if you entered a really long password.

It's not too hard to imagine that the cat is entering an extremely long password.

Since it seems like no one can come up with a direct answer and instead just make cat jokes...

So if you lock your cat in the bathroom - is your computer in a state of both "tampered with" and "untampered with" until you observe it? What about when you observe the cat?

I'm surprised no one else has made a schrodinger's cat joke 🙂

thepuro

Hi!

No its not a joke. Although replies to this intriguing post have been fun. Its pleasing to know that man made technology can be defeated and taken advantage of by one of our mammalian cousins that on the face of it has no discernible interest in anything we do.

I dont think your ‘possibility’ is a possibility. Its pretty **** difficult for hackers to ‘hack’ into your computer without some sort of inside assistance. You would have to defeat ISP security measures as well as knowing the dynamically assigned public IP address. Besides if you were a determined hacker what would be the point of hacking an individual’s single computer? The rewards would be minimal. Financial and Government institutions are the determined hackers targets, there is more gain that way. Even so, its still difficult. There has not been any major breach of note for a few years now. The biggest problem are the guys on Spamhaus’s ROKSO list. Even these guys are not interested in ‘hacking’, they mass spam their rubbish the usual way and currently there does not seem to be a way to effectively stop them.

Hi

If you read ALL the posts there have been plenty of useful and ingenious suggestions and solutions. Any of which are free to be used or not.

I did not realise that Schrodinger’s explanation of the mysteries of sub-atomic particles was a joke. Whats funny about a cat either being dead or alive?

I've not read the whole thread, so sorry if I'm repeating - but I have heard of a glitch with a continued press in the screensaver password getting past the login dur to it crashing the login process (or something). Is it possible this is happening, then the screensaver is timing out again once the cat is settled?

How about a piece of thick card with a ridge around it to prevent your cat pressing individual keys?

MacBookPro 1.83GHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Had a similar problem, took me a while to figure out what was going on, but fixed it. Here's what I did:

http://www.wwco.com/~wls/blog/2007/01/22/restoring-normality-to-os-x-right-click -expose-sleep-and-passwords/

Eh, most boxes are obtained through mass spam, true. Most people who tend to take control of these computers are usually bored teenagers, using crudely modified versions of pre-existing tools for exploitation... Once they have access to an IP address, they know it (..usually..), and knowing the human race, and their tendency for finding the pains and confusions of others amusing, what reason don't they have to modify a random exploited IP's files? An inside isn't required, it's just just extremely helpful.. If the box was obtained through some sort of clever mass spam, why couldn't a said "bored teenager" choose a random IP, and mess with it? Especially if (s)he's to notice (though this is doubtful) the posts about the cat, that'd be such an incentive to continue, just for humor's sake. Also, I like the laundry basket idea. 🙂

You really have to ask yourself one question. What do you want, a place for your cat to sleep or do you want to keep your files secure?

Oh, you might also want to consider taking backups and using passwords that won't be easily bruteforced by hitting random keys.

On the other hand, your story seems a tad incredible. I call it ********. You got greedy.

It's dated, but might this be the source to the magical cat-hacker?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120232

Good luck!

linuxcluster


edit: thought I should explain the voulnerability... One could overcome the password by entering a very long string into the password field.

However, should I be worried that persons could be
screwing with my desktop and files while my iBook is
locked up in the screensaver? Is that a legitimate
concern?

It is possible that the screensaver only blocks a person from being able to see any sensitive data and that the keyboard/trackpad still remains functional while the output to the screen is shut down.

To test this:
-Place the cursor over the System Preferences icon in the dock and then invoke the screensaver lock.
-Try clicking the trackpad while the screen is locked. (You could even try blindly using the trackpad to move the cursor side-to-side and enter random clicks)
-Unlock the screen and see if any applications have opened up.

If you find open apps then you will know that the screensaver lock only blocks visible output, not keyboard/mouse inputs.


Quad G5 Mac OS X (10.4.9)