“Just a few years ago, the Apple Mac looked dead in the water. With a tiny market share, problems involving compatibility with other computers, and overly expensive kit, the company was kept alive by a small but devoted army of admirers. But by emphasising its beautifully designed computers and phenomenally successful iPod portable music player, it turned the corner and began to win new fans. More importantly, Apple’s prices are now within the reach of all,” Anthony Dhanendran writes for Computeract!ve.
Dhanendran writes, “So what are PC users missing out on, and what are the things that PC users can still gloat about?” Computeract!ve explores the Apple Mac “inside out, looking at how and why it differs from Windows-based computers, and explaining what you can do on a Mac that you can’t on a PC, and vice versa.”
“The received wisdom is that Macs are much safer than PCs when it comes to viruses, spyware and other security threats. It’s certainly true that virus writers target PC users running Internet Explorer because this is the most common combination on the internet. The virus writer’s strike rate will be higher doing this, than if they were to target Mac users,” Dhanendran writes. “Yes, the Mac is safer in general, with fewer discovered security holes, but that doesn’t mean it’s to tally free from attack. While as a Mac user you won’t be susceptible to PC viruses or spyware designed to trap PC users, there are still threats. Like the PC, Macs come with a personal firewall built-in, and automatic updates if bug fixes are needed. Finally, because of the way Mac OS works, the system’s core is more protected from viruses than under Windows. It is fair to say that, for now, Macs are safer than PCs, but that may change as virus writers and hackers start to take an interest.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Other than indulging in a bit of the “security via obscurity” myth (see next paragraph), this is an interesting article.
Mac OS X machines are inherently safer than Windows boxes, regardless of market share or installed base. Although having a smaller user base certainly doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t appear to be the primary reason for the complete lack of Mac OS X viruses. For example, Apple’s Mac OS X has suffered zero (0) virus cases in the over five years (September 13, 2000) since Mac OS X was released to the public. According to Apple, there are “close to 16 million Mac OS X users” in the world and there are still zero (0) viruses. For comparison, according to CNET, the Windows Vista Beta was released “to about 10,000 testers” at the time the first Windows Vista virus arrived. So much for security via obscurity.
Advertisement: Special Deals – get great prices on limited-time offers at the Apple Store.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Hackers already targeting viruses for Microsoft’s Windows Vista – August 04, 2005
16-percent of computer users are unaffected by viruses, malware because they use Apple Macs – June 15, 2005
ZDNet: How many Mac OS X users affected by the last 100 viruses? None, zero, not one, not ever – August 18, 2005
Intel CEO Otellini: If you want security now, buy a Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC – May 25, 2005
Apple touts Mac OS X security advantages over Windows – April 13, 2005
97,467 Microsoft Windows viruses vs. zero for Apple Mac’s OS X – April 05, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X is virus-free – March 18, 2005
Cybersecurity advisor Clarke questions why anybody would buy from Microsoft – February 18, 2005
Security test: Windows XP system easily compromised while Apple’s Mac OS X stands safe and secure – November 30, 2004
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
Information Security Investigator says switch from Windows to Mac OS X for security – September 24, 2004
Columnist tries the ‘security through obscurity’ myth to defend Windows vs. Macs on virus front – October 1, 2003
New York Times: Mac OS X ‘much more secure than Windows XP’ – September 18, 2003
Fortune columnist: ‘get a Mac’ to thwart viruses; right answer for the wrong reasons – September 02, 2003
Shattering the Mac OS X ‘security through obscurity’ myth – August 28, 2003
Virus and worm problems not just due to market share; Windows inherently insecure vs. Mac OS X – August 24, 2003
tired of the whole “the only reason that viruses are not on osx is because not that many people use it”
if i were a hacker, i would want to make a virus for the osx so that i can say i was the first to do it.
i really think that you cant
MDN:
You’re mising a critical reason here, and one that, in my view, the Mac community needs to do a better job of getting out there:
OS X is has its internals protected from modification by users and programs that they run (benign or otherwise) unless they give the admin password.
This is because OS X by default does not have users running as the administrator (and you should never change this – only run as admin temporarily).
Windows, unbelievably, DOES have users running as the administrator by default, and, due to poor separation of operating system activity, this cannot be changed.
Microsoft is alleging that it is going to fix this with Windows Vista, but I’ve stopped believing statements from Microsoft until independently verified by reliable 3rd parties. Plus, Windows Vista isn’t here yet – 2006? 2007? 2008? The fact that a virus came out for Windows Vista after 10,000 copies were seeded, as MDN mentions, is not an encouraging sign.
When a computer connects to the internet, the computer, necessarily, is exposed to the entire world of the internet, in all countries (for those services (ports) that are open), and for all programs that connect to the internet.
Running as the administrator means that the entire computer is at risk if a security hole arises. Running as a non-administrator means that only the user’s files are at risk, not the entire computer. And, lets face it, all software has bugs/holes, even software from reputable, innovative companies that try to do good work.
Lets use a house as an analogy: You have to leave the front gate unlocked so people will be able to come to your door – this is like connecting to the internet. You do not have to leave the front door unlocked, and, if the entire world was walking up to your house, as is the case on the internet, you would be insane to do so. Yet, this is EXACTLY what Windows does. I’m actually surprised Windows doesn’t have MORE security problems than it does.
This begs the question: is Windows appropriate for internet use?
At the risk of giving away the answer to the above question, this begs another question: where are the product liability lawyers on this one? This is a grevious product flaw. If a house builder made a house that could not have the front door locked, the lawyers would be all over it….
“the Windows Vista Beta was released “to about 10,000 testers” at the time the first Windows Vista virus arrived. So much for security via obscurity.”
Precisely. This should be repeated ad nauseum anytime that stupid myth is referred to.
Macs are safer and the obscurity by the numbers is FUD.
There are no viruses for Mac because the virus writers and hackers can’t get in, period. You need an admin password to write to any OSX system and without it you can’t do anything.
1st !
dang …. guess I gotta go dance !
While it’s quite obvious that Mac OS X is more secure, there’s no proof that securty via obscurity isn’t the cause. MacDailyNews shouldn’t state opinions as fact.
In fact, MacDailyNews should drop the news part from the name, seeing as though they like to report opinion just as much as fact.
Come on guys, let’s be a little responsible. We’re not fighting a jihad here. If we want more people to enjoy our platform, let’s do it without being petty. This is a good article, there’s no reason to blast his own opinions
jo jo… Now don’t you feel like a fool?
MDN take: 0 viruses-skip….0 viruses-skip…..0 viruses-skip….
Enough already MDN. The Mac platform is not completely safe. As long as social engineering is around, no-one is safe from anything. Face it the world is an exciting place to be in because at any moment, anything could happen. Let’s keep the Mac community out of the limelight and stop saying that shit over and over….
I find it interesting that soon after OS X for Intel was released to developers a “cracked” version appeared that allowed people to use it on any PC … but still no viruses.
On the other hand, I think there was actually at least one virus already for the last Vista release BEFORE the general release to their 3rd party developers.
The main reason that the malware script kiddies don’t attack the Mac is that they can’t download a dumbass-proof ready-to-deploy malware source code project from the Internet for the Mac.
MDN Magic Word: take, as in This is My Take.
PC computer users who are opening to the Mac really are trying to present a positive and open evaluation, but it is sad that they don’t understand the Mac OS X foundation better.
Like the PC, Mac OS X has a firewall, but the Mac had it first and it is MUCH MUCH easier to configure, especially if your computer has more than one network device.
Don’t be mad and send hate mail though. The author is trying, but keeps expecting Mac OS X to be a somewhat altered Windows clone. It happens all the time.
I think the MacOS is secure, and IS secure, not because of its small marketshare, but for the simple fact that there hasn’t been any malware to successfully attack it.
Virus writers are obscure, demented people that live for the recognition (public and private) of what they have done.
What better recognition could they acheive than to be the first to write a successful Mac (aka impregnable OS) virus?
MacOSX is virus free because hackers have tried but haven’t succeeded.
Hey John, you think it’s that simple? You don’t need an admin password after you’ve found a memory leak, buffer overflow, etc… Please guys. BSD and Linux have a few viruses. The more flaunting by the community, the sooner it’s going to happen. You see that’s why Apple puts out security updates so much, but only of they get called on a vulnerability in public. There are plenty of holes. They just haven’t been tested yet. Give it a rest, or your challenge will only be met sooner that we’d all like.
They may be referring to phishing scams sent via e-mail, not viruses. This would in fact, make Mac users vulnerable – although not the computer itself necesssarily.
That article sure ended oddly. It’s like the author got a phone call while he was writing and forgot to come back and finish. No conclusion.
“This begs the question: is Windows appropriate for internet use?”
No, it isn’t. If it were, I wouldn’t be getting spam for V!agra and Refinacing my h0me everyday from Window Zombies.
to the first person, I think you make a good point
I’m not sure about the virus for Windows Vista. Was it a real virus or just a “proof of concept”?
“I’m not sure about the virus for Windows Vista. Was it a real virus or just a “proof of concept”?”
From the original MDN article, there were 5 viruses that took advantage of Monad, which is MS new command line interface. Reportedly, MS has decided to remove the feature from Longhorn/Vista, at least in the initial release.
Just a few years ago? Like 5 or 6 years ago?
Man people sure take a long time to change their opinions don’t they. Most PC users I know still say they use “IBM”.
MacDailyNews,
That obscurity thing IS PROBABLY NOT A MYTH. Yes, Mac OS X is safer than Windows XP but the fact it is not the leading operating system does make it a much smaller target for hackers, viruses and everything like that and is probably the main reason it’s safer. My reaserch did show that there is at least one malicious program for mac os X : a trojen horse. There might and probably are more.
Is this guy’s name Rip van Winkle… did he just wake up after a few years?
snowy2005
So how does the trojan do any harm if the admin password is not given and the program doesn’t get installed? It doesn’t matter if there are 10 or 20 (and the operative number here is zero) virii out there. It can’t do anything on its own, nor can any spyware or malware.
Overall a nice, generally positive piece, but there seem to be a lot of mistakes – more of the careless than malicious or clueless nature:
“The Mac goes back almost as long as the PC, having been ‘born’ in 1984 (the PC is three years older). Like the PC, it has gone through several changes since then, and the original is barely recognisable in the current models.”
— If he’s going to equate a 286 DOS box to WinXP this way, he should push back the date for Apple to encompass the Apple ][
————-
“The major reason for the difference between Macs and PCs is the processor. While a PC can use two types of processor – Intel or AMD – both are essentially the same and both can run the same software. Macs, on the other hand, use a PowerPC processor – no relation to the PC – which runs its own software.”
— If Intel and AMDs x86 are considered different “types”, then so are the G3, G4 and G5 – again with two vendors, IBM and Freescale (MOT). If he wants to continue going back to the beginning, the 68K was an example of “single vendor” but even then there were a few flavors.
————-
“It’s fair to say that the Mac introduced several innovations […] such as […] 3.5in floppy disks”
— What’s a floppy? No mention of popularizing USB and Firewire, either…
————-
“But instead of a Start menu, there is a Dashboard” — I think he means “Dock”. Oh well.
————-
OTHER NITS TO PICK:
“Although you cannot run PC software on a Mac” — Well, not out of the box… and possibly not well.
“new Macs all come with a software suite called iLife” — I thought it was just consumer machines? He says the same thing about AppleWorks as well.
————–
Good marks for clearly dispelling the MHz-myth at the top of page two. I’m left with the impression that the author was trying very hard to neither offend nor please anyone very much and mediocrity crept in.