![\"Rootpipe](\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/rootpipe-600x300.jpeg\")
For day-to-day activities on your Mac\u2014such as browsing the web, writing documents or checking your emails\u2014are you using an account with Admin privileges?<\/p>\nFor day-to-day activities on your Mac\u2014such as browsing the web, writing documents or checking your emails\u2014are you using an account with Admin privileges?<\/p>\n
I hope not. Because if you are, you’re putting yourself and the data stored on your computer at greater risk.<\/p>\n
The risk is borne out by a newly discovered vulnerability in some versions of OS X (including the newly-released 10.10 Yosemite) that could allow a hacker to take complete control of your iMac or MacBook.<\/p>\n
Swedish security researcher, Emil Kvarnhammar, calls the as-yet-unpatched privilege escalation bug “Rootpipe,” and says that a malicious hacker could gain root access\u2014the highest level of access\u2014without having to know a password. And once an attacker has root access, all bets are off.<\/p>\n
“Normally there are ‘sudo’ password requirements, which work as a barrier, so the admin can’t gain root access without entering the correct password. However, rootpipe circumvents this,” Kvarnhammar was reported<\/a> as saying.<\/p>\n A YouTube video\u2014with a decidedly funky beat\u2014shows the vulnerability in action:<\/p>\n