Hi Jane,
In the world we live, anyone who does not take security with
some degree of importance is fooling themselves. I never said in any
of my posts on the subject of security that one should not worry at
all about such matters while using a Mac. The subject I addressed in
my last message was in regard to viruses, and that was my only point
to my comments and not the overall issue of other kinds of attacks on
ones local zone. I definitely apologize if that was the impression I
gave to anyone.
I absolutely agree that Apple, like any other company in the
technology field, is vulnerable and susceptible to any number of
security risks, and they do a far better job at dealing with them
than Microsoft. That does not imply taking the matter for granted,
though. I will point out that, in reality, proof of concept is just
that, proof of concept, and in many instances, such "proof" has been
offered up wrongly by antivirus software companies seeking to appeal
to their own special interests in the market place. This has also
led to some Mac users to buy into the fear they intended on
creating. In addition, a most recent "contest" that involved hacking
a password from a Mac user, among other things, was proven to be
rather suspect as the Mac in question had been badly outdated, the
rules of the contest were changed midway through its duration and, of
course, if one cared to read carefully, Microsoft was a sponsor for
the article. In any event, without a doubt, if you utilize third
party applications, such as MS Office, you should pay extra care to
risks for sure. And, of course, Never Assume anything cannot happen
to you, Mac user or not.
I don't run antivirus software on either of my Macs, but I am
also behind a hardware and software firewall, and my network is
secure enough, as much as I have Windows systems accessing it. I
certainly would not recommend to anyone to simply and carelessly go
about their business completely ignoring the threat of some kind of
security issue, but far more confidently than with Windows, contrary
to Mr. Gates' rants, I feel far safer on my Mac than my XP systems.
Furthermore, based on what I've read and heard from several IT
people, I wouldn't touch Vista's security "improvements" with my
worst enemy's computer.
Overall, though, your points are surely taken, and I did not
mean to sound as if I was advocating for an utter lack of security
methods. I always strongly suggest to folks to make sure they run
software updates and to read the information provided by Apple. I
know, as with Windows, some Mac users have a bad habit of ignoring
those software update reminders and put them off constantly, which is
completely the Wrong thing to do.
Take Care
John D. Panarese
Managing Director
Technologies for the Visually Impaired, Inc.
9 Nolan Court
Hauppauge, NY 11788
Tel/Fax, (631) 724-4479
Email, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Internet, http://www.tvi-web.com
AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS FOR PORTSET SYSTEMS LTD, COMPSOLUTIONS VA,
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MAC VOICEOVER TRAINING
On Aug 4, 2007, at 11:40 PM, Jane Lee wrote:
To John et al,
Sorry, but I think you're underexaggerating security issues. While
there are no viruses for Mac OS X, there are plenty of vulnerabilities
for Apple and 3rd-party software that still remain unpatched. Even if
they are patched, it took quite some time for Apple or the respective
vendors to do so, I think the quoted turnaround time for a patch was 2
months. That's not counting social engineering and the likes of
phishing for passwords through websites and what have you. And if the
only reason for not caring is because of the lack of serious sploits
out there, that's not much of a reason..that's lax security, and
you're a sitting target because you are willing to be so complacent
about a possibly malicious attack.
Yes, OS X is inherently more secure than Windows. No, it does not
mean you're completely protected from every single security threat out
there, even the big one of social engineering, better known as human
fallibility. Security through obscurity is also the worst way to
handle things..just wait until more and more people use Macs.
I'm sure many people saw firsthand all the issues after watching the
Month of Apple Bugs unfold...30 back-to-back days of vulnerabilities
and proofs of concepts to exploit Mac OS X and some very popular 3rd
party apps. Apple released the first security update of 2007 fixing
one of the MOAB bugs - the quicktime RTSP bug, 23 days after it was
first announced. The vulnerability was one where if you visited a
particularly crafted link, it enabled the execution of arbitrary code.
Simple, elegant, and potentially dangerous.
And if you use Windows, it would not be a bad idea to scan files
before sending them to colleagues or anyone that use Windows machines,
or if you're sharing a drive in bootcamp. You can have files that are
infected that don't do anything in OS X that may be dangerous in
Windows. This is no excuse for Windows users not to use software like
nod32 or other AV/anti-malware software, but just saying more security
is better than none.
cheers,
jane
On 8/4/07, John Panarese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
It is likely that someone with far too much time and the mind to
to do so will come up with some kind of virus or such, but for the
time being, there are no known viruses that effect the Mac OS. There
have been claims and other nonsense about viruses or serious security
problems with Macs that have panned out to be relative exaggerations
or complete hoaxes. This includes an article in News Week when Vista
came out in which Bill Gates ranted about how Mac users are at risk
every day and Macs get taken over all the time compared to
Windows, by
the way. It is, from my understanding, a matter of the architecture
of Mac OS X compared to that of Windows. Also, of course, Microsoft
and security are the twenty-first century's greatest oxymoron.
Take Care
John D. Panarese
Managing Director
Technologies for the Visually Impaired, Inc.
9 Nolan Court
Hauppauge, NY 11788
Tel/Fax, (631) 724-4479
Email, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Internet, http://www.tvi-web.com
AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS FOR PORTSET SYSTEMS LTD, COMPSOLUTIONS VA,
PREMIER ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INDEX, PAPENMEIER, REPRO-TRONICS,
DUXBURY, SEROTEK AND OTHER PRODUCTS FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY
IMPAIRED
AUTHORIZED APPLE BUSINESS AGENT
MAC VOICEOVER TRAINING
