If you look at the [very, very] specific paragraph I was referring to, from Paul's email, then I hope you will agree with me that what I was trying to convey was the need to avoid generalizing categorization of users ... having said that, the implications are that a much higher awareness, and - in turn - possibility of addressing and/preventing issues related to vulnerabilities exists in the Mac community, vs. the Windows one, for example.
Stef P.S. Sorry for top-posting, but going back to the end would have made this a mess ... On 2/28/06, Steven Rakick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ok, first of all, the fact that you even mention > Blackhat, SANS or Cisco Networkers makes me question > if I should even respond...I will anyway. > > Yes, it's true a lot of folks, particularly in the > security realm use Macs, myself included. The reason I > use it has nothing to do with an imaginary belief in > security supremacy, but rather that the tools I use on > a daily basis run natively along side software like MS > office. Previously, like many others, I would have > been forced to run a kludgy dual boot or VMware based > solution to solve this. OSX was the perfect solution. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Stef > Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:14 AM > To: Untitled > Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] Question about Mac OS X > 10.4 Security > > On 2/28/06, Paul Schmehl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <snip> > > > > Still, the ignorance of Mac users, who believe their > platform is > > somehow magically "secure" will contribute to the > problem. > > > > Paul Schmehl ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > Adjunct Information Security Officer > > University of Texas at Dallas > > AVIEN Founding Member > > http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/ > > > I am sorry, Paul, but I have to take you up on this, > especially with your tendency of generalizing > everything. I have used *nix in the past, for all my > network and security tools, until MacOSX presented > itself as an opportunity for migration, when I had a > need for a new laptop (over two years ago). At that > time the 2.6 kernel and available modules weren't up > to the tasks of the latest hardware capabilities of > x86 laptops, so - on an advice from a friend of mine - > I have tried an iBook. I have been able to compile and > port all my tools just fine, especially with the help > of the underlying "like-BSD" infrastructure (long live > fink and Darwin-ports). All I can tell you is that - > ever since - I never looked back at other choices > (w/the exception of Windows, which was never > considered among choices, anyway, due to limitations > in cygwin, not talking about the many other obvious > reasons for the OS, itself ;)), and have recently got > myself the latest still-PPC Powerbook, which just > confirmed the rightness of the original migration. As > a repository of security and network tools, I have > thrown at this baby everything I can possible think > of, and still haven't found a way to break it ... > > ... so the Mac users are not [only] the bunch of > idiots/ignorants whom you tend to describe - I would > just invite you to attend a blackhat or shmoocon, or > even SANS or Cisco networkers, and let me know how > many Mac users you can count there ... and then ask > yourself why ... but then, again, I may be wrong ;> > > Stef _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/
