"Using a Mac may certainly be a safer choice for a lot of people as despite being vulnerable they are not targeted. However this is not the same as Macs being secure, something Eric Schmidt erroneously advised recently. I may be able to browse impervious to malware on a Mac at the moment, however I personally would not be comfortable using a platform so easily compromised if someone had the motivation to do so. In this article I address just why OS X is so insecure including the technical shortcomings of OS X as well as Apples policies as a company that contribute to the situation."
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Member since:2005-06-29
Member since:2006-04-22
Member since:2011-01-28
wocowboy,
"You say there have been attacks. Would you please cite them? Just exactly what attacks on Macs have there been in the past on the scale of Melissa, I Love You, Nimda, and the others I cited in my post? Hmmm? What attacks? I and everyone else on here are waiting to see this supposedly massive list of attacks that have been perpetrated on Macs in the past that demonstrates their vulnerability and ostensibly ridiculously horrible security."
Well this is a big straw man, your ignoring what everyone said and trying discredit us based on things no one here has said.
If anything, most of us have already acknowledged that Mac viruses are much less common than windows ones. What we disagree with is claims of superior security in apple's camp, particularly today.
Member since:2008-06-02
For starters, there's the one mentioned here several times in the last month or two (MacDefender), as well as 3 mentions in the comments for this story alone.
Backpedaling noted. Your original claim was, and I quote:
Nothing mentioned there about scale, you'll note.
Where did anyone claim there's a "massive list of attacks"? Or are one of those Apple apologists who just finds it easier to argue against strawmen?
Your argument still amounts to nothing more than "la la la la, I'm not listening, security vulnerabilities don't exist until they're exploited." And you'll probably continue spouting that line right up until the day that there is large-scale OS X exploit.
Member since:2006-06-01
"For starters, there's the one mentioned here several times in the last month or two (MacDefender), as well as 3 mentions in the comments for this story alone."
Those viruses, malware, whatever you call them, have also been discredited in these comments for being insignificant and very minor in overall effect or having produced no effect at all.
Several posters have stated that there have been many attacks on the Mac OS over the years, yet no citations of these supposed attacks has been made at all. I cited Melissa, Nimda, ILoveYou, and other Windows-related malware and viruses that wreaked havoc in the PC industry in their day, bringing millions of computers down, causing people to have to erase/reformat/reinstall Windows or just trash their hard drives altogether. I remember those attacks, I had to deal with them. THAT is what I was talking about when I refer to attacks on that "SCALE".
"Your argument still amounts to nothing more than "la la la la, I'm not listening, security vulnerabilities don't exist until they're exploited." And you'll probably continue spouting that line right up until the day that there is large-scale OS X exploit."
Yes I probably will, and then I will be one of the first to complain to Apple that they should have been paying more attention to security all along. Never in any of my posts have I said that security vulnerabilities don't exist, show me where I have said that.
In the end, what I object to is related to the title of the article, "OS X - Safe, Yet Horribly Insecure". People ignore the "safe" part and use the adjective "insecure" as a basis for an argument that based on that word alone that OS X should not be used.
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Member since:
2006-06-01
You say there have been attacks. Would you please cite them? Just exactly what attacks on Macs have there been in the past on the scale of Melissa, I Love You, Nimda, and the others I cited in my post? Hmmm? What attacks? I and everyone else on here are waiting to see this supposedly massive list of attacks that have been perpetrated on Macs in the past that demonstrates their vulnerability and ostensibly ridiculously horrible security.