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Mac OS X inherently secure, hackers not interested
MacNN ^ | 10/24/2005

Posted on 10/24/2005 10:52:07 AM PDT by Panerai

Successful assaults by viruses and other malware on the Mac operating system are rare as it has better security and attackers are less keen, says Stephen Wildstrom of BusinessWeek. "There is endless debate among security experts about whether the paucity of successful assaults on Apple's OS X is attributable to better security or attackers' lack of interest in an operating system whose share of the market is in single digits. I think it's some of both." Wildstrom says one reason Mac OS X offers inherently better security is that it was designed with relatively little concern for compatibility with earlier versions, while Windows is full of compromises so that it works with older and less secure operating systems. Wildstrom also points out that "the ablest writers of viruses, spyware, and worms, are motivated more by profit than glory, and Windows, with 90%-plus of the market, is where the money is."


TOPICS: Technical
KEYWORDS: apple; bsd; getamac; hackers; intel; macosx
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1 posted on 10/24/2005 10:52:10 AM PDT by Panerai
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To: Swordmaker

Mac OS X ping


2 posted on 10/24/2005 10:53:08 AM PDT by Panerai
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To: Panerai
attackers' lack of interest in an operating system whose share of the market is in single digits.

Again, I would point out that there are viruses for freaking CELL PHONES, where the number of units in the field is 1% of the Mac population.

If it was based on sheer numbers, why would that be true?

3 posted on 10/24/2005 10:55:47 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Panerai

Not that I dont believe that Macs are not a good platform - the reality is that punks dont create hacks for Mac because there are so few.

Why work hard to develop a virus or attack on a platform with few users when you can do the same ammount of work (maybe less) for an OS that can hit hundreds of times worse?


4 posted on 10/24/2005 10:56:26 AM PDT by BoBToMatoE
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To: Panerai

Wow. So in case any hacker was uninterested in this OS, your skills have now been officially challenged.


5 posted on 10/24/2005 10:57:36 AM PDT by BostonianRightist (I looted New Orleans and all I got was 40 of these lousy taglines.)
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To: Panerai

Mac users: "Mac OS cannot be hacked!"

99% of hackers: "What's a Mac?"


6 posted on 10/24/2005 10:59:28 AM PDT by TommyDale (I'm not schizophrenic, and neither am I...)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Again, I would point out that there are viruses for freaking CELL PHONES.

A cellphone virus is an elite hack. Mac OS X is a snoozer.

7 posted on 10/24/2005 11:10:04 AM PDT by Smogger
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To: BoBToMatoE
Why work hard to develop a virus or attack on a platform with few users when you can do the same ammount of work (maybe less) for an OS that can hit hundreds of times worse?

All the more reason for conviction of hacking crimes to carry mandatory castration - not that it would affect their lives much.

8 posted on 10/24/2005 11:13:09 AM PDT by SlowBoat407 (The best stuff happens just before the thread snaps.)
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To: BoBToMatoE
the reality is that punks dont create hacks for Mac because there are so few.

The mac platform is inherently more secure due to its basic design, processes need specific user permission to do the things that are easily done by any application in windows.

I'd recommend anyone looking at the security aspects of the Mac platform read Winn Schwartau's blog at: http://securityawareness.blogspot.com/2005/09/mad-as-hell-switching-to-mac-1-16.html, and you'll understand why so many network security professionals have switched to Mac.

9 posted on 10/24/2005 11:13:54 AM PDT by va4me ("Government isn't the solution to the problem, it is the problem" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: BostonianRightist

Steve Jobs should announce a prize for the best hack of OS X. Maybe an iPod and a years subscription to iTunes. But iDigress.....


10 posted on 10/24/2005 11:14:28 AM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
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To: BostonianRightist

Yeh. Anyone stupid enough to announce publicly that his OS is unhackable will either be hacked within a week or already has been.


11 posted on 10/24/2005 11:16:46 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Panerai
Mac OSX


12 posted on 10/24/2005 11:17:33 AM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Y'shua <==> YHvH is my Salvation (Psalm 118-14))
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To: Panerai

And in other news - The sky is blue and the Earth is round.


13 posted on 10/24/2005 11:18:04 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: BostonianRightist

PLEASE, this has been stated time and time again for YEARS, with no ill effect.


14 posted on 10/24/2005 11:18:51 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: TommyDale
Funny, I was just off the phone with a buddy who's on WINDOWS XP (I'm on a Mac and have been for years now)... Poor fellow was trying to just launch an application that would allow him the simple task of uploading files to my server (FTP)...

We finally gave up, the unintuitiveness and ridiculous complexity required by the windows interface prompted him to just send me the images via CD/FedEx...

You know Windows users are very gung ho about their OS and it's nerdy world, but give me a machine that let's me WORK on the tasks at hand versus trying to FIGURE OUT HOW to do something any-day...

Simplicity in interface means progress on your tasks...
15 posted on 10/24/2005 11:19:00 AM PDT by Barney59 (I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.)
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To: Barney59

Give me something that I can actually find applications for.


16 posted on 10/24/2005 11:26:13 AM PDT by TommyDale (I'm not schizophrenic, and neither am I...)
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To: Barney59

"ridiculous complexity required by the windows interface"

So what threw you - the 2nd & 3rd mouse buttons or the lack of the 'splat' key?


17 posted on 10/24/2005 11:27:03 AM PDT by PissAndVinegar
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To: va4me
"...why so many network security professionals have switched to Mac."

Can you cite some statistics? I don't know anyone in the professions outside of artists, desktop publishers or musicians who use them.

18 posted on 10/24/2005 11:28:39 AM PDT by TommyDale (I'm not schizophrenic, and neither am I...)
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To: Panerai

A Mac user worrying about getting hacked is like Helen Thomas worrying about getting an STD. It can happen, but it's not likely.


19 posted on 10/24/2005 11:31:03 AM PDT by phugg
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To: Barney59
Poor fellow was trying to just launch an application that would allow him the simple task of uploading files to my server (FTP)... We finally gave up, the unintuitiveness and ridiculous complexity required by the windows interface prompted him to just send me the images via CD/FedEx...

Odd, I run Filezilla on XP every freakin' day and have no problem with it.

20 posted on 10/24/2005 11:31:51 AM PDT by RogueIsland
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