Malware to Bite Apple in 2009
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 15:06
Topic Source:
Of all the grand myths, conspiracy theories and hoaxes perpetrated over the Internet, the idea that Apple's OS X operating system is magically more secure than others is one of the more laughable.
It's been easy to see why, historically, most Mac users haven't felt the same level of anxiety as Windows users. Until now, no one has really bothered targeting them.
When commentators like this one dared suggest, in 2003, that Apple's OS X software was susceptible to the same sorts of vulnerablities that have plagued other operating systems, the reader reaction was so severe it was worrying.
Indeed, one of the comments posted on the piece by a particularly passionate reader suggested ZDNet's Sydney bureau would make an excellent destination for a truck laden with explosives.
Wed, 03/25/2009 - 10:01
#2
Dumb!
Since passing on my old MBP to my 14 year old son last year, even a cursory glimpse at what little security infrastructure I run at home shows that it really doesn't seem to matter what OS you are running, a dumb user is a dumb user (I say this with the utmost love and respect, son). He still tries to go to every dumb site and run every dumb download he got repeatedly punished for when he ran a Windows lappy!!
Yes, I believe the Mac's time in the security limelight is rapidly approaching, and I run a similar setup to BastardSheep on my MBP. In fact, if the media & politicians stopped banging on about the Global Financial Clusterf**k long enough for anyone to find the balls to spend any money I reckon OS X would have reached critical mass by now, but frankly, why bother hacking a machine no-one can afford!!
I'm really getting the ^%*s with the lack of length in twitter, so many things I want to say but don't due to the fact it would spread over 3+ tweets, such as what I'm about to write below...
I still stick with what I said on twitter with this being similar to the scare mongering I've seen about MacOS I've seen every year for the last 10 years, which never eventuates. HOWEVER, for just as long a time I have also been laughing at those who shrug such stories off and claim MacOS is more secure and simply use the fact it hasn't been hit YET (emphasis mine) as their proof.
If one reads the more detailed reports that Apple release with every set of patches, they show that MacOS suffers from the same common and regular horrific mistakes Microsoft does with Windows, and it is also demonstrated time and time again that Apple tend to lag a fair way behind in patching/updating the OpenBSD components of their OS.
Really, the only thing that has saved MacOS to date has been the lack of interest from the malware developers and that the malware industry has been so focussed on Windows. The exploits and malware are definitely increasing at speed, but it is still barely a trickle.
All that said and done, on my Mac I still run as a non-admin user, have my email reader set to plain text only, run (updated) firefox with adblock, noscript & siteadvisor, and have ClamX installed set to constantly monitor most if nto all the directories on my computer, pretty much exactly as I have my Windows boxes configured.
Just because I see it as still being a trickle and don't believe it's going to explode in to a flood, doesn't mean I won't protect myself and all but lose it every time I see someone on a mac forum saying "don't bother running anything".