“Mac users are facing an onslaught of security threats — and reacting to the malware is no longer considered a good strategy Taking proactive measures against phishers, spyware, ID thieves and other Web threats, like downloadable rootkits which infes operating systems, is the new norm,” Gene J. Koprowski “reports” for MacNewsWorld in an article with the would-be-funny-if-it-weren’t-so-sad headline “Developers Struggle to Defend Macs From ‘Zero Day’ Attacks.”
“During a conference call with reporters, experts affiliated with the SANS Institute indicated that there has in recent weeks been a “surge” in attacks on the Apple OS X platform. The growth in Mac vulnerabilities, according to Alan Paller, director of research at SANS, comes as there is a decline in the critical vulnerabilities found in Windows services. Part of the problem lies in the Web browser that many Mac users rely upon — Internet Explorer,” Koprowski “reports.”
Full “piece” here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re just going to stop the Koprowski BS Express right in its tracks at this random point of ridiculousness. Our stats show the browsers in use to access MacDailyNews (which obviously receives a high concentration of Mac users) in the month of April 2006 as follows: 63% for Safari / Safari RSS / “Mozilla Compatible Agent,” 13% for Firefox, 6% for NetNewsWire, 6% for Internet Explorer, 3% for MacReporter, 0.77% for Camino, etc. You get the point: even with a large group of Mac users stuck on Windows machines at work and using IE, our stats show just 6% accessing our site via IE (about which we’re extremely happy, BTW), so Koprowski’s statement that “many Mac users rely upon Internet Explorer” is as wrong as wrong gets – just like the rest of the FUD contained in his “report.” What’s Koprowski going to do next, an exposé on how it’s likely going to pour rain every day in Phoenix according to Arizona-based umbrella manufacturers and retailers?
Give us a break already! We’re not buying crap antivirus software for our Macs for no reason. If anything, run the free ClamXav, if you want to be a good network citizen and help protect Windows sufferers from their operating system’s inability to do so properly. More info and download link here.
Gene Koprowski is a UPI Technology Correspondent:
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Related articles:
ZDNet: Reduce OS X security threats – ignore security software – May 05, 2006
McAfee announces virus protection for Intel-based Apple Macs – May 05, 2006
BusinessWeek: New Apple Mac ads stir up Mac security overreaction – May 04, 2006
Unix expert: Mac OS X much more secure than Windows; recent Mac OS X security stories are media hype – May 03, 2006
Macs and viruses: the true story – May 02, 2006
Anti-Mac FUD machine shifts into overdrive – May 01, 2006
FUD Alert: Viruses don’t catch up to the Mac – May 01, 2006
BusinessWeek: Apple should hire security czar to combat uninformed media FUD – March 09, 2006
Spate of recent Mac security stories signal that Microsoft, others getting nervous – March 06, 2006
Mafiasoft: Microsoft to charge $50 per year for security service to protect Windows – February 07, 2006
Why pay Symantec for flawed ‘security’ app designed to protect Apple Macs from nonexistent threats? – December 27, 2005
‘Highly critical’ flaw in discovered in Symantec AntiVirus for Mac OS X – December 21, 2005
Why Symantec’s ‘scare tactics’ don’t worry Mac users – September 28, 2005
Motley Fool writer: ‘I’d be surprised if Symantec ever sells a single product to a Mac user again’ – March 24, 2005
Symantec cries wolf with misplaced Mac OS X ‘security’ warning – March 23, 2005
Symantec’s Mac OS X claims dismissed as nonsense, FUD – March 22, 2005
The last time I had a virus on a Macintosh was in the days of System 6 and floppy diskettes. OMG, I must be ancient! I must say, though, it has been a while since I have had to tread through such technological bullshit, WAIST HIGH!!!!!
I bet it doesn’t help those web browser stats that a lot of Opera users have Opera set to “identify as IE”
Brad brings up a good point: though it is sometimes “easier” to let our browsers masquerade as IE just to get ridiculous web sites to work right (some of the time), let’s remember NOT to do that when we are generally surfing around, since it doesn’t help up out in the long term, to have a higher IE count in website stats. Keep Safari, FireFox, Camino, Opera, iCab, what have you, on the radar!
I only switch to pretend to be IE for that one page I’m trying to get to work properly, then I switch right back. (This I do in Safari, using the Debug menu).
just 2 more cents
Just because you tell Safari to pretend to be IE does not mean the mask cannot be penetrated. That subterfuge only works if the site doesn’t look too hard at the answer – most just accept it as fact and move on.
Those who keep track of site statistics and browser use don’t take the browser’s word for it. They find more Safari users than Mac’s current market share. This likely means that Safari users do more browsing than IE users and that the vast majority of Mac users use Safari. It could also mean there are more older Macs than older PCs, but many of the older Macs can’t run Safari beyond the Beta that worked with Jaguar. Safari is #3, behind IE and Firefox – IE with a bit over 80% of the total. Use of both Firefox and Safari have been steadily and significantly growing while IE has been slowly losing ground. (significant growth for a minor player may not lead to a significant loss to the largest)
The growth in OS X malware is much more dramatic than portrayed. There were NO successful attacks prior to this year’s one worm and one trojan. Vista has a worse record and it’s still in Beta!