Was Maynor and Ellch’s Demo Video Legitimate?
Their demo video led to confusion because the hijacked MacBook in the video was equipped with a third-party Wi-Fi card and driver. The initial reaction to the video — no doubt fueled by The Washington Post’s Brian Krebs’ headline “Hijacking a Macbook in 60 Seconds or Less” — was based on the misconception that they had shown an exploit of a stock MacBook using the built-in AirPort card and driver. The external card is clearly visible in the video, and Maynor explicitly states on camera that it’s what they’re exploiting. So this confusion was unfortunate, and I suspect, has clouded perception of the entire saga ever since. Many people remain under the impression that the controversy is about whether they used a third-party card or not, a fact which was never actually in dispute. But the actual exploit on the video has never been proven or explained. Maynor and Ellch refused to reveal the make and model of the card, on the grounds that they wanted to provide the vendor with time to issue
