Jan 03, 2018  Just bring the computer spying tool that will work for parents to protect teens and for employers as the cyber-security expert to avoid cyber- attacks and further allow a user to monitor the employee’s windows & MAC screen activities to the fullest. As far as spoofing your MAC to hack your network, my question is, how tech savvy is your neighbor? You should also be able to monitor the connections made to your router. If you see the MAC of the tablet while the tablet is not connected, this doesn't mean the neighbor is connected, it just means your router hasn't flushed that info from it's. Getting locked out of your Mac is annoying. But don't get too frustrated. Whether you're dusting off an old MacBook to give your kids for online classes or you just set up a new work laptop to.

1. How To Hack With A Macbook
2. How To Use A Mac
3. Hack Mac Password With Usb

When you buy a Mac computer, you are buying the hardware and the software combined. We all know that we can't just purchase the software - aka macOS - and install it on our PC; unless you build a Hackintosh, that is. Below we will analyze all the advantages and disadvantages of a Hackintosh, and we will see why you can't just install macOS on any computer, as you would do with Windows or Linux.

Feb 27, 2012  Any computer can be hacked if you are careless enough to permit it. There's nothing special about any computer in this regard. Getting hacked means you have put your computer onto the internet with no protection like a firewall or hardware router or you have allowed general access to the computer but do not have a sufficently strong enough password(s). Nov 26, 2010  This hack will only work if you have the ip of someone on your network. It will not work if the ip of the person you want to “hack” is not on your network. If you can only access your targets shared folder put a batch file in their shared folder with the command C=C if.

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Table of Contents

• What exactly is a Hackintosh?
• Is Hackintosh legal?
• Hackintosh is not for everyone

What exactly is a Hackintosh?

If you are not familiar with Hackintosh, then you probably haven't heard of OSx86 as well. But let's start from the beginning.

A little history

Apple doesn't need any special introduction. We all know it is one of the largest technology companies that designs and develops computers, smartphones, software, and online services.

The most known consumer software from Apple is macOS for computers and laptops, and iOS for smartphones, but that wasn't always the case.

Apple's story starts back in 1976 when it was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. By the end of 1970's, they had already launched their first products, Apple I, II, and III. However, Apple's first success came with the Macintosh models in the 80's.

Macintosh

The first Macintosh was introduced in 1984, which was Apple's first mass-produced personal computer with a graphical user interface.

Macintosh computers run the Macintosh System Software operating system, which was later rebranded into Mac OS in 1996.

The brand changed several times through the years. In 2001 it became Mac OS X, until 2010 that changed again to just 'OS X.' From 2016, we know it as macOS.

As for the name 'Macintosh,' it was replaced with the shorter 'Mac' on 1998 and hasn't changed since then.

Transition to Intel processors

Up until 2006, Apple used PowerPC processors on Macintosh computers, while Windows PCs used Intel and AMD chipsets. That way, it was impossible to run any of these operating systems on a non-official hardware.

However, in June 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would produce Intel-based Macintosh computers. By the way, this is the reason we can only download Photoshop for free on Windows PCs and not on a modern Mac.

In January 2006, the company introduced the iMac and MacBook Pro, which were the first Intel-based Mac machines. More specifically, they were based on the Intel Core Duo platform, and they run Mac OS X 10.4.4 Tiger.

Apple later announced that it would complete the transition to Intel processors by the end of 2006. With Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard on 2009, the first Intel-only Mac OS X, the company finally stopped the support for the PowerPC microprocessors.

Since Apple moved to the Intel chipset, it was possible to run Windows on Apple hardware. Although the company provided a supported method to dual boot OS X and Windows, it refused to support the installation of OS X on other hardware.

And that's where Hackintosh came into play.

OSx86

OSx86 is a hacking project that enables us to run OS X on non-Apple systems. The project is also known as 'Hackintosh,' a portmanteau of the words 'hack' and 'Macintosh.' If the hacked computer is a laptop, sometimes it is called 'Hackbook.'

The transition to Intel processors was the beginning of OSx86, a name derived from OS X and the x86 architecture. The early efforts were crappy, with plenty of bugs and incompatibilities. The project would adequately support only a few GPUs, and it was almost impossible to install new updates, without breaking anything.

Since then, many communities appeared on the Internet to support the Hackintosh. There are a lot of step by step guides that describe how we can install macOS - or previous versions of the operating system - on laptops and custom desktop PCs.

Thanks to all these forums and communities, there is now a lot of support on how to assemble a Hackintosh, what parts to choose, how to overcome any problems, etc. Hackintosh has indeed become easier than it used to be.

The most popular community is OSx86 Project. For more information, you can also have a look at tonymacx86. In case you want to build a Hackintosh, these are good places to start. For AMD users, the AMD OS X forum will be your best friend.

Why would I want a Hackintosh computer?

There are several reasons why people what to build a Hackintosh computer.

First of all, some users prefer macOS over Windows, but they don't want to spend a fortune on buying a Mac.

Besides, a Mac is a pre-built computer. Nowadays, people tend to select their hardware and build their machines based on their needs. Others want the computer to have a certain look and feel, or they don't like a Mac's design.

Furthermore, Mac computers are locked down. That means we cannot upgrade their parts, easily install more RAM, replace the hard drive, etc.

That's why PC enthusiasts turn to Hackintosh to run macOS, because Hackintosh provides the scalability and power of a PC, along with the efficiency of macOS.

And then there's curiosity. A significant portion of Hackintosh users want to experiment with a different OS or do it for the tinkering aspect. For some people, half the fun of working with computers is to make them do things they were not built to do.

How about performance?

Performance-wise, a Hackintosh with the same high-end hardware components as a Mac can perform better in benchmarks, rendering times, etc.

In this video, there is a comparison between the 5Κ iMac and a 1000$ Skylake Hackintosh with similar hardware. Have in mind that the Mac costs from 2.500$ to 4.500$, depending on the model.

In the matrix below we can see the specification of the machines used in the comparison.

The results on most benchmarks favor the Hackintosh over Mac Pro, 5K iMac, and 2016 Mac Book Pro.

There are several other benchmark tests on the Internet that conclude to the same thing: Hackintosh performs better than a Mac.

Is Hackintosh legal?

If you install macOS or any operating system in the OS X family on non-official Apple hardware, you violate Apple's EULA for the software. According to the company, Hackintosh computers are illegal, due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Some people suggest that, if you use a legitimately purchased copy of macOS, it is 100% legal to install it on any machine you want.

That would make sense if you didn't agree to Apple's end-user license agreement. The EULA mentions that we don't buy the software, we only 'license' it. And the license terms do not permit us to install the software on a non-Apple machine.

If you install macOS on non-official hardware, you breach the contract and the copyright law. Apple, on the other hand, has the right to act upon a breach of contract and right violation.

Of course, communities like OSx86 have existed for years. That probably means that Apple doesn't care or doesn't want to spend money and effort against such acts. Maybe Hackintosh computers don't have any significant effect on Mac sales, who knows.

That said, PCsteps doesn't hold any responsibility for your actions. It is up to you whether you decide to build a Hackintosh and run into problems with Apple. The purpose of this article is purely informative.

The story of Psystar

Psystar Corporation was a company that sold Mac clones. The term refers to computers that run Mac OS, but are made and manufactured by third-party companies.

In other words, we can say that Psystar's computers were the first commercially distributed Hackintosh computers.

On July 3, 2008, Apple filed a lawsuit against Psystar Corporation for violation of copyrights, but the conflict didn't end there. Psystar responded with a countersuit for anti-competitive practices and monopolistic behavior.

However, the countersuit was dismissed. Long story short, the case reached the Supreme Court, which decided that Apple was right, and Psystar violated its DMCA rights.

Psystar's computers were based on the OSx86 project, but the developers of the project claimed that Psystar didn't get permission to use their code. Thus, they reworked their license after the incidence, strictly forbidding commercial usage of their code.

Hackintosh is not for everyone

It is true, Hackintosh is not for everyone. We saw that a Hackintosh has higher performance than a Mac, depending on the hardware used. But we also mentioned that the process is complicated and illegal.

If you wonder whether or not you should install macOS on a custom computer, we got you covered. Below you'll find all the advantages and disadvantages of Hackintosh so that you can decide.

Pros

• Cost effectiveness: Is it all about the money after all? Maybe. A Mac's price is way off the limit for many of us. Contrary, in a Hackintosh you pay for the hardware you get, and it is certainly less expensive and greater value for money.
• Custom build: The main reason people choose Hackintosh over Mac is that they can use custom computer parts. Although limited to specific CPUs, motherboards, etc., users can still make a choice between a wide range of parts, plus they pick the monitor or a PC case of their liking. The variety is significantly greater than a pre-built Mac computer.
• Better performance: Since you can install a high-end GPU, it makes sense that a Hackintosh is more powerful than a Mac. The video card can also help with GPU rendering with CUDA, which isn't always possible on a Mac.
  
• Upgradable: There is a sense of flexibility when you can upgrade your computer whenever you want. With Hackintosh, you can install more RAM, change CPU, etc., as long as you choose parts that are compatible.
• Fun: Last but not least, the fun part is something you should take into consideration. If you like to tinker and experiment with computers and different operating systems, you may have found your next project.

Cons

• Specific hardware: Hackintosh won't run on any PC, you have to buy specific parts to make it work. There is a lot of support in the Hackintosh community that can help you buy the right parts, but this doesn't mean it will work on a machine that you already have sitting in the basement.
• High level of difficulty: If you are the type of user that wants everything ready out of the box, Hackintosh is not for you. It will take a lot of effort to make it work, even with the right hardware. Moreover, you may run into issues at any point after the installation, and that will require search and digging into articles and forums to solve them.

• No support: If anything goes wrong, which is not a rare phenomenon on Hackintosh computers, you have to fix it by yourselves. Apple won't support you in any way. This is a very significant drawback for those that want to use Hackintosh for professional purposes, and thus it is definitely not recommended for such cases.
• Risk on updates: When you update a Hackintosh, don't expect a smooth experience as it would be the case with an official Mac computer. As we mentioned, you may run into problems, and updates are known to 'break' things in Hackintosh.
• Illegal: Apple says that Hackintosh is illegal, and that is a good reason not to try it.

Do you plan to build a Hackintosh?

Hackintosh is a pretty solid solution if you want macOS, with the price of a casual computer. However, for professionals that their job depends on their computer or inexperienced users that prefer an out of the box experience, it is not recommended. Plus, we should not forget that Hackintosh is not legal.

In case you just want to try macOS, you can create a virtual machine inside Windows. It is just as illegal as a Hackintosh, but much, much easier to set up and run.

Have you ever built a Hackintosh computer, or do you plan to build one in the future? Do you think that Hackintosh is better than a Mac? Did this article help you decide whether you should go for it or not?

You can share your experience with Hackintosh in the comment section. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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Every day we see news about computers being hacked and how the cybercriminals make money off people clueless about the protection of their assets.

For someone not very technical, it may sound as if hackers are so powerful, and the only way to hide is to shut down all devices and go off the grid completely.

However, the truth is that there are several simple things one can do to make sure that we are reasonably safe when browsing the internet without affecting our ability to access the information we need.

Whether or not someone can hack into the computer or phone through WiFi depends on a person’s proximity to the WiFi router. If a cybercriminal in the range of access to the WiFi router, they can connect to the local network and perform various attacks, such as Man In The Middle attack.

If the hacker is outside of the WiFi range, then the way they attack will be different.

Let’s consider various scenarios of how the computer can be hacked and ways to protect your devices.

Hacking Computer Through Local WiFi

As you probably guessed, it is much easier to hack the computer, which is in close proximity to the hacker’s device.

For instance, your neighbor can connect to your WiFi and use your internet for free. Or you may connect to the free WiFi in the cafe or hotel, but someone already hacked the network, and now everyone, including you, is a potential target.

Or maybe you are using the office WiFi, and it was also hacked.

And it doesn’t have to be a computer, such as a Mac or PC. Your smartphone, iPhone, or Android, which uses the WiFi can be hacked as well.

Let’s see what hackers can do if they are physically connected to the WiFi you are using.

Man in the middle attack

If you have the internet at home from a cable, DSL, or fiber-optic provider, you have a router. Your computer does not directly connect to the internet; it sends and receives data by directing it through the router.

In layman terms, the process is the following:

1. Your computer or phone finds a WiFi router.
2. After submitting the correct password, the router sends back its MAC address. MAC address is an identifier of computer components, and in theory, it should be unique across billions of devices on the planet. The network card on your computer also has a unique MAC address.
3. After you get the MAC address of the router, all internet activity will be going through the router. In the pic below, there is a MAC address next to each device on the local network, and the router’s address is 11:22:33:44:55:66.

When a hacker connects to the local WiFi router, it also finds the MAC address of the router. The hacker changes his computer’s MAC address to be the same as routers one (11:22:33:44:55:66 in the pic below).

Now, all devices on the local network connect to the hacker’s machine, and then the data flows to and from the router. So the hacker becomes a man in the middle (MITM).

Once this happened, the hacker can read all outgoing requests and incoming data using various tools that collect such data.

This means every time you enter a username and password on some web site or enter your credit card number, and it gets saved on the hacker’s machine. Also, every URL you are visiting also gets saved.

There are some limitations, obviously. For instance, if the website uses the HTTPS protocol (S at the end stands for Secure), all traffic is encrypted between your computer and cybercriminals will not be able to crack it (in most cases).

However, if the web site uses HTTP, all data, including the password, is in cleartext.

So, if you want to avoid your data being stolen, always check that web site is using a secure protocol (HTTPS). In the browsers, the secure protocol is usually displayed with a padlock icon next to the URL.

Never enter passwords or financial information on web sites with HTTP!

How the router can be hacked

When it comes to your home WiFi, there are three ways for someone outside to connect to the router:

1. The router is not password protected
2. You tell the password. For instance, you told the guest the password, or she looked it up on the router (if you didn’t change the default one)
3. If the router is using an old authentication protocol

I am going to skip the first two and instead of focus on the last one. The authentication protocol used in with WiFi router is very important.

If your router is old, it is possible that it’s still using WEP protocol, then you should know that anyone who knows a little bit about hacking can hack the router literally in less than a minute.

So, if you have it enabled on your router, then go ahead and disable as I did.

What you should have is WPA2 with AES encryption. In the pic below, the authentication strength (protection from hacking) increases from top to bottom (WPA is less secure, and WPA2-PSK with AES is the most secure).

Some hackers employ a dictionary attack to crack WPA protocol, but it takes supercomputers to hack it. So as long as you are not a celebrity or a billionaire, nobody will spend so many resources to break into your network.

Usually, you can connect to the home router settings by going to the local IP address, such as http://192.168.0.1/.

How to tell if someone hacked your router

One of the sure routers hacked signs is the existence of an unknown device connected to the local WiFi network.

As I explained above, in order to perform a man in the middle (MITM) attack, the hacker must connect to the WiFI network first. And if he’s connected, you can see him too.

One way to find out the connected devices is through the router settings. Some routers allow us to see all connected devices and kick them out if needed.

Another way is to use a network scanner app. For instance, I found a cool app called Fing. The app is available for almost all platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows.

It is free (with ads) and doesn’t even require creating an account in order to use it.

One cool feature they have is scanning for open ports.

For instance, when I scanned my MacBook Pro, I found that remote desktop and screen sharing features were enabled, and anyone could connect to my Mac remotely.

How to protect from a MITM attack

While it is possible to scan and find unknown devices on the home network, this approach will not work with public WiFi networks, such as the one in Starbucks or the hotel.

You would never know if the public network was compromised. In this case, the only way to protect your privacy is to use a VPN (a virtual private network).

How To Hack With A Macbook

When connected to VPN, your computer or phone creates a secure encrypted channel with the VPN server. After the connection is established, all requests go to the VPN server. The server makes all requests on your behalf and returns the results back to you.

From outside, it looks like the computer is sending some garbage to and back to the same computer. Even if the hacker collecting the information, he won’t be able to tell whether you’re connecting to Google.com or MacMyths.com.

When choosing a VPN software, follow these best practices:

• Do not use a free VPN. They have significant limitations, and you know that good things are never free.
• Test for speed. Some VPS are significantly faster than others.
• Check the provider’s reputation. Since all requests now go through the VPN, technically, the VPN server becomes a man in the middle. So choose only reputable providers.

Personally, I am using NordVPN: it’s the fastest on the market and very inexpensive. It is available for multiple platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

If you use my NordVPN affiliate link you get a pretty steep discount for three-year plan for up to 6 devices.

Hacking Computer Remotely

We discussed ways to hack the computers and phones through local WiFi, but I know the question that most people ask is whether hackers can connect to the home network when they are on the other end of the world (or more than a hundred yards or meters away).

Fortunately, the answer is no, someone cannot get into your home network, even if they know the password if they are outside of the range (more than 300 feet).

Also, in most cases, hackers cannot get into your computer is off (link).

However, there are other ways to get into your system remotely. Do you remember a story of Bezos’s personal data being leaked?

In his case, he received a message on WhatsApp with malware attachment. When the malware was installed on his phone, it started sending the personal data to the server abroad.

Similarly, we are all at the risk of having malware installed on our computers and smartphones. Some malware open access to the device, so the hackers can access it remotely.

Or, the malware could be a keylogger, and in this case, even having HTTPS or a VPN will not help. A keylogger will record the keys pressed on the keyboard, and if it happens to be a credit card number, then the hacker will have it.

So, how to protect the devices from malware? You need to install an antivirus program.

There is a common myth that Macs cannot have viruses, but this is not true. I was able to inject my Mac with more than 100 malware samples when testing various antimalware solution.

You can check the results of my test and recommended antiviruses in my post: Best Malware Detection App for Mac.

Every time my friends and family ask me for a recommended antivirus, I go with Norton 360. It comes with the biggest bang for the buck and provides antimalware and other security features on all platforms. And it also has its own VPN!

Conclusion

We reviewed multiple ways how someone can hack into your phone or computer through WiFi. I also listed ways to prevent this from happening, which I wanted to reiterate.

How To Use A Mac

If you worry about online security, consider investing in the following tools:

• VPN software
• Antivirus program

Be very cautious when connecting to public WiFi. I’d say if you don’t have VPN installed on a laptop or smartphone don’t use public WiFi, or at least avoid making purchases with a credit card or entering passwords.

If you are interested in the topic of security, there is a great course available on Udemy about ethical hacking. The instructor teaches how to hack computers ethically and most importantly what can you do to prevent from being targeted:

Also, check my other post:

Photo credit: ©canva.com/cyano66

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