17th May 2017 Panic Pwned

Steve Frank of Panic fame admits to having his company’s source code stolen:

Last week, for about three days, the macOS video transcoding app HandBrake was compromised. One of the two download servers for HandBrake was serving up a special malware-infested version of the app, that, when launched, would essentially give hackers remote control of your computer.

In a case of extraordinarily bad luck, even for a guy that has a lot of bad computer luck, I happened to download HandBrake in that three day window, and my work Mac got pwned.

Long story short, somebody, somewhere, now has quite a bit of source code to several of our apps.

I am sorry this happened to Steven, but at the same time honestly documenting this breach in a well-written blog post is just one of the reasons I love Panic so much.

Would this have happened to Steven if Handbrake, like so many other powererful Mac Apps, was restricted from the Mac App Store? If Handbrake had been in the Appe Store and protected by Apple’s review process Panic’s source code may have never been protected. I think it is unfortunate Apple is prioritizing the protection of Mac App Store users who prefer simple apps and games over the power-users and developers who require apps that push the Macintosh platform forward.