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"Experts" Say Macs Are Not Safer Than PCs

Posted by pudge on from the and-i-say-that-the-middle-east-is-a-great-vacation-spot-this-year dept.

MoneyT writes "As reported at vnunet, experts are claiming that Macs are no safer than PCs in terms of protection from a virus. Seems more to me like they're just saying that we Mac users aren't invulnerable, but until I see things like nimda taking out my Mac, I'll stick with the iBook." The article doesn't mention that the "7,000 macro viruses" attack Microsoft products (leaving uses of a Mac only as a web server completely protected from them), nor does it quote any statistics about how many Mac vs. Windows viruses exist, and it doesn't address the real- world fact that Macs are hit with viruses far less often than Windows machines.

3 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Your statement is FUD. by usr122122121 · · Score: 2, Informative

    btw- the plural of virus is viruses not virii.

    --

    -braxton
  2. Re:what are they talking about? by daviddennis · · Score: 4, Informative

    One thing I've noticed about virus writers is that they are lazy and sloppy. I find it unlikely that most of them even thought of cross-platform considerations when writing their code.

    For example, I'm betting a lot of those viruses refer to "C:\program files\Microsoft Office\ ..." instead of using the system call to get the appropriate directory. And just one of those calls is going to stop the virus dead on the Mac.

    D

  3. Re:what are they talking about? by digitalcowboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    I agree with you completely. This is the most biased anti-Mac propaganda I've read in a long time. One small piece of evidence:

    In the past even the US Army has moved its web servers over to MacOS in the mistaken belief that they will be more secure.

    They fail to mention that that was prior to OS X. While it's certainly true now also, back then the Mac OS was FAR more secure than Windows for running a web server simply by virtue of the Mac having NO COMMAND LINE. Even if you could exploit a Macintosh web server in the days of OS 9 and prior, what would you do once you got in? There is no ability to do anything remotely on the machine unless there is third party remote desktop software installed on it.

    I find the line about 7,000 macro viruses hysterical as well. The vast majority of those macro viruses are VB viruses that attack the myriad gaping security holes in Outlook (or the myriad gaping security holes in IIS, installed by default on all Windows systems and not even available for Macintosh). The Macintosh version of Outlook Express doesn't even support VB! The only macro viruses a Mac might be vulnerable to are MS Office macros. How long has it been since you heard of an MS Office macro virus outbreak? They're virtually non-existent now because it's so much easier to propagate a virus via Outlook and/or IE.

    Speaking of which, if you're dumb enough to be running IE on a Mac, you probably are opening up some vulnerability. That's one reason there's so much activity in the browser space (iCab, Opera, OmniWeb, Chimera, etc.) even though IE is free.

    No system is totally invulnerable, but having spent many long hours dealing with the effects of NIMDA (for one) at work, I'll gladly hold on to my Mac at home, thanks.