“Personal computers have never been more powerful – and dangerous. Just as millions of Americans are buying new PCs and signing up for ultrafast Internet connections, cybercrooks are stepping up schemes to take control of their machines – and most consumers don’t have a clue,” Acohido and Swartz report. “‘We thought things were bad in 2003, but we’ve seen a sharp uptick in 2004. I’m worried things will get much worse,’ says Ed Skoudis, co-founder of consulting firm Intelguardians.”
“The scariest type of attack is one most consumers aren’t aware of. Scores of sophisticated programs, called worms and bots, continually scour the Internet for Windows PCs with security holes. There are hundreds of Windows vulnerabilities, and new ones turn up regularly. Microsoft issues software patches, or fixes, each month for the most troublesome. But most home users, and many businesses, don’t keep up to date on patches,” Acohido and Swartz report.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A Windows PC can be such a royal waste of time and effort! As we’re fond of saying, if you’re finally tired of downloading and installing patches to patch patches that patched patches issued to fix patches that broke while patching a patch that didn’t patch the first patch, but broke the last patch you patched, you might want to try a Mac instead. More information about adding a Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal here.
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Is Mac OS X really inherently more secure than Windows? – August 26, 2003
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Fortune columnist: ‘get a Mac’ to thwart viruses; right answer for the wrong reasons – September 02, 2003
New York Times: Mac OS X ‘much more secure than Windows XP’ – September 18, 2003
Columnist tries the ‘security through obscurity’ myth to defend Windows vs. Macs on virus front – October 1, 2003
Gates: Windows ‘by far the most secure’ system; tries to use ‘Mac OS X secure through obscurity’ myth – January 27, 2004
Mac OS X has no viruses; what’s wrong with Windows? – February 11, 2004
Spyware, adware plague Windows users online; Mac OS X users surf freely – April 19, 2004
Gartner: Worms jack up the total cost of Microsoft Windows – May 07, 2004
Windows ‘Scob’ virus designed to steal financial data, passwords; Macintosh unaffected – June 26, 2004
Tired of patching patches to patch Windows patches? Writer suggests getting a Mac – August 03, 2004