Mac Users Blast Symantec ... Again

An anonymous reader writes "Once again Symantec has spouted FUD about Mac OS X ... perhaps in an attempt to make more money as Microsoft pushes its own security products? A commentary on the issue entitled "Symantec 'scare tactics' don't rattle Mac users" says Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report continues to voice concern for the security and stability of the Mac operating system, Mac OS X in particular. However, there isn't proper evidence to back this claim. Also from the story, readers are asked: Do Mac users think they are immune to security problems or is Symantec and others fishing for a new revenue stream? Do you think Apple should start following Microsoft's model by rating vulnerabilities and patches?"

Comments

Errrr

[scenestar]

Do you think Apple should start following Microsoft's model by rating vulnerabilities and patches?"

Apple would be retarded if it followed any of MSFT's security policy.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Semantec Panicing

[TheRaven64]

Semantec, I would imagine, has three nightmares:

1. Users all switch to platforms without security problems.
2. Microsoft makes Windows Vista secure.
3. Microsoft includes AV and a decent firewall with Vista.

This is a counter to the possibility of option one.

On the Mac, as with most other platforms, there are periodically vulnerabilities that allow arbitrary code to be run. These are generally patched quickly, making them a poor vector for attack (except amongst the uptime-is-a-measure-of-masculinity crowd, who refuse to reboot for security patches). The only convincing things they have are things like opener. Opener itself is nothing more than a bash script - it runs, and if you run it as root then it will disable the firewall, etc. and run a server people can connect to. Of course, you then need some kind of social engineering attack to persuade people to download it, run it, and enter an admin password. This is, of course, possible - just find some stupid people. The problem is that a virus scanner won't do anything to protect you against this kind of thing.

They just don't get it

[Deanasc]

I think the fact that both the hardware and OS come from one vendor makes the Mac far more stable hence secure. Microsoft has to get windows to work with Intel and AMD chipsets that are jammed into boxes made by hundreds of different manufacturers. Add into the mix a backwards compatability problem where software written in the 1970's is expected to still work and you've got a recipe for buffer overruns and all the demons they bring forth.

That doesn't mean the Mac is more secure it just means that there are less windows for worms and virii to crawl through. Oh wait, I guess that does make it more secure.