CherryMUG

Did you turn off your iPhone? If you didn’t, is it dead yet? I didn’t think so.

There is a lot of buzz on the Internet about the demonstration by Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner of the iPhone virus at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. First, they didn’t report that the virus is out there in the wild. They demonstrated it at the conference. OK, I’m sure those two guys are much smarter than me. I’m not a hacker. I don’t create viruses. I’m not even a programmer. I’m just a guy who loves working on his computer, and now on the iPhone too.

Your iPhone, Palm, Blackberry, etc… they are computers. Just as that machine sitting on your desk is a computer. Since the late 1960s or early 1970s, there have been computer viruses. You know what? As long as there are computers, there will be computer viruses. It doesn’t matter. The really smart people who make the computer systems will do their best to make their systems virus proof, and there will always be other really smart people who do their best to find vulnerabilities. It is a cycle that will keep going, and going, and going.

Now, there is even a report about how an attacker can conduct a “Man-in-the-Middle” attack against Web sites with Extended Validation (EV) Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates.

And, yet another about a vulnerability in Mac OS X.

The only computer that is truly safe from a virus is off, and unplugged. That computer doesn’t do you much good. So for now, I’m not shutting down my iPhone. I’m not shutting down my computer. If I get virus, then so be it.

Apple® reported their best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in Apple history. Apple’s 2009 third quarter ended June 27, 2009. They posted revenue of $8.34 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.35 per diluted share. That was a nice jump from a year ago.

My how things have changed for Apple since we started CherryMUG in 1995. Back then there was always talk about Apple surviving. Now, even in the very difficult economy of 2009, Apple is thriving, not just surviving.

You can see the entire press release from Apple here: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results.

I exchanged some emails with Adam Engst. The awesome editor of TidBITS has given us permission to post their TidBITS Announcements Newsletter on our Forum. That means that every week there will be new announcements there with links to all of the great articles on TidBITS.

Everyone who has been on our CherryMUG email list knows that we have been following TidBITS for years. Now you will be able to find those links right here in our CherryMUG Forum. Just one more reason to get in on the fun.

So, what are you waiting for? Come join us!