Call for Apple Security 'Czar'

conq writes "The second security non-incident to hit the Mac platform in as many weeks has been debunked. People are talking a lot about security on the Mac these days, and the result is that a great deal of FUD is being spread around. BusinessWeek's latest Byte of The Apple column suggests that its time for Apple to appoint a security Czar to get out ahead of the FUD before it spreads much more." From the article: "Creating a CSO position may be viewed by some as an admission of weakness. Still, I say it would be a good way for Apple to inoculate itself against the perception -- warranted or not -- that Mac security may be eroding, and get ahead of the curve for any troubles that may be inevitable. That may not be the case, but in matters related to product marketing, it's the public perception, not the reality that really matters. And once you've lost a user's confidence, it's hard to get it back. Just ask Microsoft."

Comments

The importance of user confidence

[FuzzyDaddy]

And once you've lost a user's confidence, it's hard to get it back. Just ask Microsoft

And yet, they still seem to be doing OK.

Wow, talk about an unassailable position

[hey!]

it would be a good way for Apple to inoculate itself against the perception -- warranted or not -- that Mac security may be eroding

While I agree that every company that sells operating systems should take security seriously, and that having somebody responsible is practically always a prerequisite to being "serious", it's really too bad that people don't seem to absorb a bit more reasoning skill by the time they get out of school.

Sure, Apple's relatively superior security record "may" erode as they start to gain market share and visibility to the black hats. In fact I'd say there's not much room for it to go other than the direction of erosion. However, we don't have any evidence that that anything like a disaster is about to happen. You can posit that terrible things may happen, and nobody can prove you wrong. You could posit that Steve Jobs is the vanguard of an alien mind-control invasion, and nobody could prove that wrong either. These are the sort of things that can only be proved in an affirmative sense: some researcher finds a vulnerabilityin the Mac OS authentication system, or tentacles suddenly springing from Steve's head.

Right now I'd say the biggest problem are the Mac user base's overconfidence. While back in the day, Mac users did struggle quite a bit with viruses, which were oh-so-much more interesting to write for the more advanced Mac platform than for DOS, recently, they're getting a bit cocky. They're not as used to the security patch grind as the people running Windows.

Uhh, personally

[mcc]

Personally I think they'd be better served by concentrating on improving their security, rather than concentrating on improving their security-related PR.

Analysts and bloggers crowing endlessly about "Apple/Linux/Firefox/whatever don't have better security, they're just smaller" gets attention for a little while, but just let time pass. Eventually people realize they're being cried wolf to. After a few years people will have forgotten the bloggers, but will remember whatever the next major Windows worm incident that gets on the nightly news turns out to be.

Unfortunately, this only works if you really do have better security. And while this article is just talking about media events like the mac mini challenge as if they're all that matters, Apple has had real security problems of late. Whether or not the mac mini challenge was important for real security there are apparently some os x privilidge escalation exploits floating around, and there was that incredibly embarrassing bug awhile back where Safari could be tricked into launching a shell script as if it were a .jpg. Exploits based on getting the operating system confused about filetype mismatches are really the kind of thing we should not be seeing in 2006, especially since (1) OS X has had security issues of this exact same type before and (2) this is the exact kind of exploit which is the basis for many Windows e-mail worms. Apple needs to take this seriously.

Taking this seriously does not mean-- as the article suggests-- appointing someone to talk to the press about how great Apple's security is. It means actually fixing the problems, and making some effort to see what other problems might be out there. PR is temporary, and if you do too much of it it can backfire (as people start to assume anything positive they read about your platform is just a result of PR). Real security problems like the filetype bug I mention can impact your reputation for years, no matter how much you try to spin them.

Speaking of which, there was a new security update on Apple Software Update this week. Anyone know what exactly that covered? Is the jpg/sh MIME or whatever problem fixed yet?

Re:Biased poster

[dclydew]

Esclation of Privileges is a vulnerability, the last time I checked.