|
 |
|
ZDNet Australia is running a "the sky is falling" security article about OS X. Based on Symantec's bi-annual Internet Security Threat Report, this write up includes a laundry list of blatantly false and/or uninformed, highly-speculative statements: • ...as Apple increases its market share—with new low cost products such as the Mac mini—its userbase is likely to come under increasing attack. Increasing attack? What attacks have there been? Have you or anyone you know been attacked? • Contrary to popular belief, the Macintosh operating system has not always been a safe haven from malicious code. The only example Symantec cites is last year's Opener, which never appeared in the wild. That is, this particular piece of "false alarmware" was placed on a number of machines by a person with administrator access. • [I]t is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft and various Unix-based operating systems. Increasing from zero to, uh... zero? Again, where are the examples? • [M]any of the people who bought Apple products were not concerned about security, which left them wide open to attack. This statement is written in the past tense, which would seem to indicate that someone, somewhere has already become a victim. But, um, where is the victim, let alone "victims" (ie the statement's use of the plural)? • The only reason Windows has had mass exploits written for it is the sheer number of connected devices that are present on most networks. As soon as you start seeing mass deployment of any technology you are going to see exploits. The person who said this gets paid to talk about security? Ubiquity is Windows only problem? Good god! Window is as loose as a sex maniac doped on GBH. The phrase "open 24/7" doesn't even begin to touch the obscenity that is Window's utter lack of security. • There aren't any outbreaks because there are simply are not enough [Macs] out there. With Linux and Mac OS having roughly equal market share (it depends on who's counting and what gets counted), wouldn't you expect to see a roughly equal number of attacks? Needless to say, Linux attacks are commonplace and well-documented. And, again, there's never been a single, self-replicating piece of malware on OS X. The article closes with these statements: The Symantec report found in the second half of last year, an increasing proportion of malware was designed to expose confidential information. The report also found that phishing attacks increased by 366 percent while the number of Windows-based worms and viruses increased by 64 percent, when compared to the first half of 2004. What does any of this have to do with OS X? The article starts out with "the Mac is in peril!" and ends with listing of Windows-specific malware statistics? And, a damn short list at that! Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Nothing more, nothing less... What's your take?
| |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
