MSN screwed up and didn't put the article in the right place, but thats not the reason for this blog. While many purport that Macs are virtually hacker free, sadly this is not true... "Report: Hacker attacks on Mac rising". (you have to scroll way down to read it) So even you Mac users need to be careful. So its not the type of computer you have its the size of the market that that type of computer holds. So all you Mac lovers... take that! LOL!
**disclaimer - I really like certain things about macs and have really considered getting one but as always the quest for knowledge reveals little things that people would like hidden**
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Mac - not so invulnerable...
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6 comments:
No Brian, I don't agree that it sounds like that. I am a skeptic I will agree, but I have not passed judgement. I am just researching more and more to see what is there and what the pros and cons to everything are. Theres something to say about a computer system that holds almost 90% of the market share. There are things I don't like about MS but will we ever be 100% happy with any product?
Richard - I do think that its a great thing to do. It seems that MS has been more and more consumed with getting a "monopoly" of sorts and not into the security that it should be. But then you piss a few people off (like they did with the prices, and like they will probably do if they make you authenticate your windows for updates) then you're gonna get attacked... nuff said.
"many purport that Macs are virtually hacker free"
I don't recall any Mac user ever having said this. The common wisdom is that Macs are more SECURE from hacker attacks.
The assumption that many Windows apologists try to push on us is that this security is due to the low market share. It is more correct to say that the NUMBER of attacks is lower because of the smaller number of users. As the number of users grows it is sensible to assume that the number of attacks might increase, and I believe that this is what the Symantec article was trying to put across.
That does not detract from the fact, however, that those attacks are less likely to succeed. What does it matter if hacker attacks have increased by 500% if none of them are getting through. Think of it as someone throwing stones at a tank. Just because more people throw stones it doesn't follow that the tank will suffer any damage.
The plain fact is that OS X is inherently more secure (notice I didn't say impregnable) than Windows.
Until you actually get yourself a Mac and experience what it's like to peacefully surf the web , your comment about your "quest for knowledge" rings hollow.
What makes a Mac more secure is it's almost inaccessible Root, not just the minority user base (not to be confused with marketshare). Remember, Mac OS X is built on Unix, which came into existence when, I believe, Bill Gates was a freshman in high school. It was built from the ground up for networking, so it has a huge head start over any version of Windows.
Why anybody would voluntarily choose to deal with the maelware maelstrom described at arstechnica is beyond me.
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Regarding any potential vulnerabilities on Mac OS X versus 10s of 1000s
of existing Windows viruses actually out in the wild:
A thorn in the finger is not the same as a bullet in the head.
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BTW, can't find the reference at this moment, but there was a study that showed that a Panther equipped Mac online, with Windows sharing turned on, was attacked 400 times an hour... about the same NUMBER of times the Windows machines were attacked... but none of the attempts compromised the Mac as the Windows XP SP2 machine was.
Repeat after me:
An IP address is an IP address is an IP address.. etc. regardles of what brand of computer resides there.
The story of the 3 little pigs comes to mind, for some reason.
With OS X 10.4 Tiger, one can turn on the firewall and surf in stealth mode. When in this mode, your Mac doesn't even acknowledge it is there.
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