“Apple Mac users are still too lax when it comes to security matters, an independent researcher has said,” BBC News reports.
“Kevin Finisterre caused ripples in the Mac community when he started a website in January revealing a different bug in Apple systems each day of the month,” The Beeb reports.
“Apple makes great play of the fact that its OSX operating has yet to be attacked by a virus while Windows XP machines are plagued with problems. Its recent global campaign of adverts pitching Macs versus PCs has focused on security issues. XP machines are represented by a flu-ridden, sneezing individual while the Mac remains untouched by illness,” The Beeb reports.
Apple’s “Get a Mac” ad – Viruses:
The Beeb continues, “Many of the problems highlighted by Finisterre are security holes in applications, which are not related to viruses… [Finisterre] said the Month of Apple Bugs (MOAB) project had succeeded in its original aim of raising the level of awareness around Mac security… But Mac experts have pointed out that none of the exploits have ever successfully been used to hijack an Apple computer.”
“By contrast hundreds of thousands of Windows machines have been taken over as part of so-called bot nets, which use the hijacked machines to deliver millions of spam e-mails around the world,” The Beeb reports. “At the moment there are no plans for the MOAB website to continue.”
Full article here.
Glenn Fleishman reports for TidBITS, “Two hackers wanted to show the world that Apple’s much-vaunted operating system wasn’t as secure as it was cracked up to be. The Month of Apple Bugs (MoAB) ran from 01-Jan-07 to 31-Jan-07, with the final day promising a future serious bug. Instead, they may have turned the Mac smugness dial up a notch.”
“MoAB backers ‘LMH’ (who does not reveal his or her real name) and Kevin Finisterre appeared to want to tweak Mac users, who often revel in the so-far absence of attacks on Mac OS X that are plausible, persistent (not quickly patched), and spreadable. In particular, the pair appear to take issue with the zealots and ‘fanboys’ who, when presented with credible information that shows Apple or Mac OS X in a bad light, reject it out of hand. But lmh and Finisterre also seemed to have a chip on their shoulders before, during, and after MoAB,” Fleishman reports.
Fleishman reports, “it seems that MoAB may have unintentionally given more ammunition to the extremists in the Mac faith, while making the larger community even more blase. None of the bugs released had any real potential of a vector – spreading from computer to computer as a worm through an Internet- or LAN-exploitable flaw – and as far as I have seen, no in-the-wild exploit was released for any of the bugs, despite the fact that MoAB refused to notify Apple or third-party developers before releasing the bug details to the public.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Alex” and “Tim” for the heads up.]
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