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Weblog:   Attack of the malicious widgets
Subject:   Simple fix for now, use Folder Actions
Date:   2005-05-10 13:46:55
From:   jdb8167
OS X has a feature called Folder Actions. It allows you to run Applescripts when a folder changes. You can enable it from
'/Applications/AppleScript/Folder Actions Setup'


In addition there is a script called 'add - new iitem alert.scpt' that you can attach to the ~/Library/Widgets folder. This will alert you when anyone or anything tries to alter your Widgets folder.


Problem solved. The potential issue here is being overly exaggerated as far as I can tell. This is one lame avenue for spyware and the like if it is this trivial to overcome.
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  • Giles Turnbull photo Simple fix for now, use Folder Actions
    2005-05-10 15:16:16  Giles Turnbull | O'Reilly AuthorO'Reilly Blogger [View]

    Yes, it is a fairly simple fix for anyone with some experience of using Mac OS X, but my point was that for newbies, for the kind of people Apple wants to attract, even this solution would be far from straightforward.

    These people might well be switching to Apple products because they've heard that they're more secure, and more stable. If we start blinding them with stuff about Folder Actions and Scripts, Mac OS X won't seem nearly as user-friendly as they might have been lead to believe.

    I'm talking about perception of difficulty, rather than the level of difficulty itself.
    • What's the diff between this and any other trojan ?
      2005-05-10 18:52:39  nst [View]

      Not having experienced Tiger yet myself, I have to rely on other people's reports of Tiger's behaviour.

      From what has been reported, the user still has to manually install downloaded widgets. What's the difference between this and any other Trojan Horse ?

      If this exploit had the potential to be self-replicating without user intervention it would be a concern. Otherwise, the golden rule of "Know what a program does before you run it" still applies.

      No matter what an OS publisher does, there are still going to be people who click on programs that purport to be screensavers of Paris Hilton or promise to make them rich. That's how it goes.

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