Filed by KOSU News in Business.
February 19, 2013

Apple said today that the computers of some of its employees were attacked by hackers, who used the same vulnerability to access computers at Facebook.

All Things D reports:

“‘Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plugin for browsers,’ the company said in a statement to AllThingsD. ‘The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers. 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 noted that it has been shipping Macs without Java since the release of Mac OS X Lion, and that it also has a software mechanism that disables Java if it goes unused for 35 days. Apple is also releasing an updated software tool to detect and remove Java-related malware.”

Last week, Facebook said their systems had been breached in January. Both companies said that no user data had been compromised.

Reuters points out one of the interesting quirks of this hack: This is the “highest-profile cyber” attack to target Mac computers.

“Hackers have traditionally focused on attacking machines running the Windows operating system, though they have gradually turned their attention to Apple products over the past couple of years as the company gained market share over Microsoft Corp.,” Reuters reports.

This news comes the same day that an American security company revealed it had connected hacks targeting 141 American companies to the Chinese government. [Copyright 2013 NPR]