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Army Buys Macs to Beef Up Security
agent_blue writes "The Army is integrating Macs into their IT network to thwart hack attempts. The Mac platform, they argue, is more secure because there are fewer attacks against OS X than Windows-based systems. 'Military procurement has long been driven by cost and availability of additional software--two measures where Macintosh computers have typically come up short against Windows-based PCs. Then there have been subtle but important barriers: For instance, Macintosh computers have long been incompatible with a security keycard-reading system known as Common Access Cards system, or CAC, which is heavily used by the military. The Army's Apple program, created [in 2005], is working to change that.'"
One small step for Mac one giant leap for Mac kind.
--- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
Hey I'm gay you insensitive clod... wait no...!!! That joke backfired horribly!!
Psh, yeah. That 8% of Macs -- only a few tens of millions? All with no anti-virus software whatsoever? And the fame/infamy of being the first to write a self-replicating virus for Macs?
Yeah. Totally not worth it.
Stop perpetuating simple-minded myths.
How many times do I have to keep telling people that security is more about the skill of the IT staff than it is about the operating system it runs on?
...
"More about" is not the same as "entirely about." Sure, a good IT staff with a bad system will be more secure than a bad IT staff with a good system. But a good IT staff with a good system will be more secure than either. And Unix-based systems, including OS X, are demonstrably better in terms of security than Windows-based systems are.
Do you think the Army should go back to using bolt-action rifles? It's true that a good marksman with an M1903 is more useful on the battlefield than a bad marksman with an M16, but
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
If you read the article instead of the headline, you'll see that the Army is making the attack target more diversified, so that a single attack will not bring down all computers. What's wrong with that tactic?
There's no rule against being a Mac user in the military. You're just not allowed to tell people that you're a Mac user, and they're not allowed to ask if you're a Mac user.