“Here we go again. Security experts warn that there is a hole in one of Apple’s products, Apple says there isn’t a problem, and a month later it releases a fix for it. A journalist (me) writes a story pointing this out and is faced with email abuse from the Apple faithful,” Kieren McCarthy writes for Techworld.
McCarthy writes, “Exactly the same thing has happened several times in the past and it’s not just me saying it, it’s anyone that points out the startlingly obvious: that OS X, Safari, MacBooks, whatever, do not exist within some holy forcefield of invulnerability – they are just electronic products.”
“Anyone who covers Apple’s security problems is very quickly faced with the same frustrating pattern. A hole is discovered and then Apple either refuses to discuss the issue or it says it is ‘looking into the issue’ and refuses to say anything else until it has properly reviewed it. The company then produces a fix in its own time and releases it along with a whole bunch of other patches, providing the bare minimum of information in the hope no one notices,” McCarthy writes.
McCarthy writes, “At no point does it inform its users that there is a problem, and it goes out of its way to underplay the extent of the hole in the advisories when the fix is finally produced.”
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Randy” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: These Microsoft apologists that fruitlessly attempt to equate Apple Mac security with Windows insecurity would have an easier time equating a grain of sand with a continent. What does McCarthy want instead, for Apple to thoroughly detail any issue for malware writers before there is a fix available? You can criticize Apple all you want, but the end result of their methods defies criticism: protected Mac users surf the Internet with impunity.
Regardless of platform, do not download, install and run applications from untrusted sources.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
McAfee: Microsoft ‘taking security risks’ with long-delayed, oft-pared-down Windows Vista – October 02, 2006
Why is Apple’s Mac OS X so much more secure than Microsoft’s Windows? – October 01, 2006
Apple Macs are far more secure than Windows PCs – September 26, 2006
Oxymoron: Microsoft security – August 12, 2006
Symantec details more security holes in Microsoft’s Windows Vista – July 26, 2006
Symantec: Microsoft’s ‘improvements’ to Vista could cause instability, new security flaws – July 18, 2006
Symantec researcher: At this time, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X – July 13, 2006
Sophos: Apple Mac OS X’s security record unscathed; Windows Vista malware just a matter of time – July 07, 2006
Sophos Security: Dump Windows, Get a Mac – July 05, 2006
What Microsoft has chopped from Windows Vista, and when – June 27, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Apple: ‘Get a Mac. Say ‘Buh-Bye’ to viruses’ – June 01, 2006
Unix expert: Mac OS X much more secure than Windows; recent Mac OS X security stories are media hype – May 03, 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
Security company Sophos: Apple Mac the best route for security for the masses – December 06, 2005
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
Please stop beating me.
Hmm, I went to the site and read the article.
In short it said, “I use windows and am too lazy to change” Nuff said.
Other articles on the site talk about problem after problem after problem with windows and how soon it will be fixed. Soon,
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soon,
trust us,
soon it will be fixed.
IT goon. LOL
N.
I have Norton Antivirus on my computer soley as a “just in case” action and I’ve got it set to auto update. Other than that, it’s pointless to criticize Mac security. The only thing that matters in the long run and the only thing that’s going to affect Apple’s user base is the numbers. As far as Apple’s way of dealing with security, I think it’s brilliant. Why would you disclose a security issue before a patch is out. Who’s gonna exploit a security flaw they don’t know about?