How would reinstalling apps help if the machine is rooted? Wouldn't it still be rooted with new copies of the apps on top? Apps themselves can't be rooted (at least as hackers define it)... doesn't it refer to code that executes during boot time and persists after shutdown even after some reinstalls of the OS (depending on how you do it) ?

Because I think "computer security" is almost an oxymoron, my solution is to separate use & hardware accordingly. For instance, I have a fresh install of MAC OS on a machine that's never been on the internet except from within a virtual machine running in VMWare. I use this for banking , trading stocks , etc and I start from a fresh system image EVERY time. That takes one click in VMWare so it's easy.

I use other machines recklessly because I don't care if they're hacked - I'm not doing anything on them I don't mind losing. My iPad is a special case because it's connected to my iTunes account and that's a vulnerability so NO web surfing with Safari.

Why am I so worried? ... how about the crimeware that creates Zeus style zero day exploits with a few mouse clicks? Yes, you can just buy programs that automate the creation of attack code that's guaranteed to work. I know this already exists for targeting Linux and Mac OS so I doubt similar stuff for iOS is very far behind . Any hacker that can control a webserver temporarily can root your machine should you click on that site. Is this actually happening? umm... yes.

whatever... this is all way off topic!

p.s.

Yes I agree PDF is dog barf

I'm sure he meant reinstall iOS and then all the apps on top of that. It's a pain but it's recoverable.

I really know nothing about iOS . I don't know if "restore" just copies the system files over or if it first does a bitwise wipe of the drive including MBR ( or whatever that's called on iPhones/Pads ) ? If it's the former then it don't think it would eliminate real rootkits because they're specifically designed to elude that kind of thing.

Whatever... I won't trust anything important on a machine I can't wipe first for myself and run in a virtual machine on top of an OS I install myself.

To give you an idea of the extent of the problem consider this http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20002425-245.html

That was 2010 and things have only got worse since then. The percentage of home computers that are compromised is probably even higher than business. I think anyone who isn't paranoid about this probably doesn't understand it very well.

Well if you want you can root (i.e. jailbreak) the iPad, mount it as an external drive and then run a program on your PC/Mac to erase the memory of the iPad securely and brick it and then do a factory restore. There are ways to treat it as if it was any external drive which I imagine should do the trick for you. I'm no expert in iOS though so there might be easier/better ways of doing it.

I think a simpler way to get this done is to get an iTunes account linked to an iTunes gift card instead of a credit card: you can then created an account with prepaid credit. Or even better, link it to a virtual credit card. It works like a pre-paid card for online payments: if it gets compromised it can only have access to as many funds as you have put in it.

System restore writes everything again. iDevices (AFAIK) do not have MBR (after all, they are not hard drives) but have a firmware part holding the OS. A restore rewrites this to factory settings. But it takes an awful lot of time.

We already had an iPad security discussion in another thread, I won't get into it again, but please don't say I think anyone who isn't paranoid about this probably doesn't understand it very well. I do understand it and feel no paranoia.

_________________
Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

FBI executive assistant director and cyber czar Shawn Henry says recently in the Wall Street Journal ""I don't see how we ever come out of this without changes in technology or changes in behavior, because with the status quo, it's an unsustainable model," [...] "Unsustainable in that you never get ahead, never become secure, never have a reasonable expectation of privacy or security."
I'd say he has things about right - although perhaps neither he nor I really "understand it"

That says almost nothing about the percentage of computers that are infected. For the purposes of this study, if that corporation has 999 computers with no infection and 1 that's infected, that will count as being affected by the botnet.

_________________
Occupy Babel!

That's true hyperpape! My point about the Fortune 500 companies is they have better security practices than your average householder and they can still they get whacked ! Estimates of infected home computers apparently range from 10% to 60% as far as I can tell. That's high enough to worry me away from web browsing on a machine I care about. ymmv

Hi,
Can anyone help me with these two questions?
1)I play on KGS with my regular computer. How can I use the new iPad for it?

2) Unrelated but causing me big trouble! My user ID , user name and password all work fine on both the apple store computers and my iPad . However, whenever I try to download updates on my Os Mac I get the 'invalid username/password ' message every time. There are no errors with anything I input.I have changed my password four times to see if that would help but still nothing. Can anyone help?

Btw My experience with DGS is that it is a fantastic site and the speed of the games varies tremendously. I have found it to be a true treasure house.

Cheers,
Buri

Hi Buri

You cannot play KGS with iPad natively. You must use Android Tablet. I recommend asus eepad transform.

@MLC, Buri and badukJr
YES, you can play on KGS using iPad. I wrote about it in many topics here and I have even opened a special topic with step-by-step and with video attached how it looks. This is safer even than using java on your desktop machine. Search forum for AlwaysOnPC. Or check it on YouTube. It is safe, it is full desktop experience, not mobile castrated version. But the cost of the app is about 15-20 bucks or euro I don't remember exactly (there are occasional sales).

But... Honestly - there are better alternatives. Tygem, WBaduk, PandaTetsuki. For beginners: playok.com, or goshrine (although the latter is like a desert). There is Kaya.gs on the horizon, and maybe kgs web version based on html5. Is there a place for KGS on the iPad? If you want to chat more than play - well, maybe you'll be satisfied, but if you want to play a lot - I'm sure you will find other servers to be more useful. And for a beginner - playok.com would the best solution.

To answer the original question, I feel that Igowin HD plays less like a bot at mid-high SDK levels. CrazyStone (Champion Go HD) plays "more obviously" like a machine. But this is really subjective.