“The prevailing belief among Mac users that their systems are more or less impervious to hack attacks might be incorrect, according to a report released late last week by security firm McAfee… McAfee’s report follows on the heels of a study by the SANS Institute that placed Mac OS X at the top of its list of potential security vulnerabilities,” Walaika K. Haskins reports for Newsfactor. “However, while many in the security industry have jumped on the ‘Mac is not secure’ bandwagon, several experts have taken issue with the way the Mac is being positioned as a potentially insecure system.”
“Andrew Jaquith, an analyst at the Yankee Group, is one such expert. He called the McAfee report ‘sloppily written and sloppy in its use of statistics.’ It is, he said, ‘a speculative house of cards resting on a foundation of shaky statistics and questionable assumptions.’ As one example, said Jaquith, McAfee has confused software flaws with attacks. In the report, Jaquith said, the company cites vulnerability figures from Secunia, a security software firm, as ‘attacks,’ even though Secunia itself identifies them as ‘vulnerabilities,'” Haskins reports. “Software flaws are not the same as attacks against the end user, Jaquith pointed out. ‘Saying otherwise is scaremongering, pure and simple,’ Jaquith said. ‘And, in fact, they don’t document a single confirmed attack.’ Jaquith did say that the Mac, like any other system, is not impenetrable. He also pointed out that Apple, for its part, has never claimed that Mac OS X is bulletproof.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “matt” for the heads up.]
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Lot of that going around. The viruses are coming, the viruses are coming.
What’s sad is it may be scaring away the switcher. Get your cheap windows but don’t forget the 400 dollars worth of virus/malware/spyware/underwear software.
My take on this whole thing (sent out to my 400+ client mailing list and somewhat localized to my geographical location in the Caribbean):
http://209.68.45.48/mac/virusmac.html
could it be?
an objective point of view?
ok so mcAfee wants us to buy virus protection for no known viruses – even if a virus did appear owners on mcAfee would have to wait for an update (however long that would take against this virus. ill get protection not only when there is a virus but when there is also a solution to it – and thatll prob be Clam as its free.
Virus list for Windows: 100,000 plus and growing…!
Virus list for Os X: One to maybe two, and then these need that the user helped (by running as admin/root) the virus/trojan to get it.
Scare tactics do sell, look at the Y2K scare. All the other virus/trojans that did affect the PC world, some of these didn’t even affect that many systems.
But it did help the companies that sell “security” software.
As a Computer Technician, I had to help some of my PC user friends to get their systems cleaned of all these attacks. In one occasion I had to clean a system with over 1,900 virus and about 700 spyware programs installed in my friend’s PC. Obviously I recommended they get a Mac, and since it took a long time to clean I charged him for the job (3 hrs.).
After it happened 2 more times he finally followed my advice and bought a Mac Mini. Needless to say they love it, he even thanked me for showing him how much better is working in an enviroment were you could work with less fear.
Do you see, PC users?
Do you SEEEEEEEEEEEE??????????????
I’m just sayin’.
The last sentence in the article reads “it’s going to take something big like the major attacks and major loss of service” for Mac users to purchase antivirus software.”
The sentence should read for Mac users to purchase anything from McAfee! Are they trying for switcher business? Anyone who has been around awhile certainly would not buy from them.
A buddy of mine put it best:
“Back when I used Windows, I didn’t really mind it. Now that I use a Mac, I can’t imagine ever going back to Windows.”
Or how about this exchange my mom told me she had with one of her coworkers…
Coworker lady: “Once you get done with your Mac, you’ll go back to the other kind.”
My mom: “No, I won’t.”
hey, McAffee, remeber this headline from a couple months ago?
“Faulty McAffee Update Wreaks Havoc”
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125073,00.asp
We’re not going to let you forget that one.
“The prevailing belief among Ass users that their systems are more or less impervious to hack attacks might be incorrect, according to a report released late last week by security firm McAfee… McAfee’s report follows on the high heels of a study by the SANS Institute that placed Ass OS X at the top of its list of potential security vulnerabilities,” Walaika K. Haskins reports for Newsfactor. “However, while many in the security industry have jumped on the ‘Ass is not secure’ bandwagon, several experts have taken issue with the way the Ass is being positioned as a potentially insecure system.”
If I wanted “protection” for malware yet unknown, unwritten, and unreleased I would be wiser to purchase cyber insurance than software that was completely useless for a unspecified problem.
If it were at all easy to write a serious, destructive virus for tye mac, I’m sure McAfee would’ve done it already…
Hay! Just wait a gol’durn minnit!!
I’ll have you know that MY Ass is very secure! I have several safeguards and systems to insure that nothing, NOTHING infects my Ass.
…I keep my Ass in a high tech stable, feed it nothing but the finest grains, take it to the vet regularly, keep it innoculated against all known equine virii and diseases and cover my Ass with a blanket woven of the finest silk.
And THAT, my friends, is how you take care of your Ass.
It appears that the general thinking among some is: “The fewer viruses the Mac has compared to Windows, the greater the potential susceptibility of OS X to malware”.
This is comparable to saying, “The wealthier a person is, the greater the likelihood they will experience poverty.” What a bunch of maroons.
Rather one should think of Windows as, “A ship with numerous holes in the hull is always in danger of floundering.”
Maybe McAffee should keep its eyes on the road.
Since when is the Yankee Group on our side?
Windows on my future Macs? NEVER.
McAfee, scare mongers. That’s all they are. Norton will try it next.
However the Mac is far safer than any Windows box on the planet. And no real threats of real virus attacks have yet to be proven. Mcafee wants your money for some new software and that’s all.
This just in from McAfee………..
ALL Macs are NOT Y3K compliant. All Mac users are urged to buy their latest product Y3PROTECT or the world will come to a screeching halt at midnight Jan 1st, 3000. Price is $49.99 with yearly renew rates of ony $19.95. If you purchase before September 1, 2006, McAfee will wave the fee for the year 2999.
With FUD and other despicable tactics like this, McAfake, $ymantec, et al wouldn’t get the sweat off my cojones even if a virus were to appear for OS X.
Rock on Steve!
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Don’t be silly Y3K, everybody knows the Mac clock’s limit is 6:28:15 a.m., February 6, 2040.
No way will I buy anti-virus that’s a PC port…I’ll stick with my Intego Virus Barrier, thank you very much…
Besides, to purchase anything from the McAfee site, you have to use IE 5.1 — a NON-EXISTENT BROWSER for Macs! If they really want to get Mac users to buy their worthless software, they’re going to have to make it so users can use Firefox or Safari (especially Safari — there are probably plenty of users like my spouse who won’t use any other browser, even though I’ve got both Firefox and Netscape on our Intel iMac…).
That’s right, none!
There will never be one, either.
Let’s just ignore this scaremongering and stay away from all the ‘profit from virus-fear’-warez.
Just don’t worry. Macs are impenatrable to virii, that’s all we need to know.
Well they can keep arguing all they want. All I know is that w/o all the fancy 3rd party anti-hacker software my Windows laptop would be unusable! Completely clogged with spy-ware. In fact alll the 3rd party gizmos got installed for that reason. Only one machine in my stable has an ongoing subscription to Symantec LiveUpdate. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the one from Cupertino.
So I do not understand what threats they are talking about. If anyone knows anyone with a Mac sufferring from PC style ad-ware, mal-ware, or internet attacks please post. In fact we should start a donation based fund so the machine in question can be analyzed by an impartial 3rd party.
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