A change in tactics

[Decado]

when looking through the last months of stories on Apples "hot news"-section, one thing stands out: several times they are quoting articles that speak about the advantage macintosh-owners have when it comes to avoiding computer viruses.
It seem to me that this is a new tactic. yes we have always known the macintosh was nearly untouched by viruses, but it is not something that apple have used in their marketing or that is commonly known. maybe they have been afraid that it would seem too much like an open challenge to all hackers and virus-writers.

but now they even link to this article:
Virus-Free Macs - http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20040916.html


any thoughts?

 

[quiksan]

i wouldn't draw too much attention if I were apple.
get too many hackers setting their sites on OS X, and they'll find the holes in the armor...
OS X just doesn't garner the attention that Windows does. But a concentrated effort by people with bad intentions could quickly change our virus-free way of computing.

just my 2 cents of course.

 

[Ricky]

they'll find the holes in the armor...

True, but have you noticed that Apple seems to fix any hole that's found in their operating systems a week or two after it's discovered?

The difference between Apple and Microsoft's tactics is Apple knows that it's their responsibility to fix what's wrong in their operating system, and not the responsibility of some antivirus software company.

 

[kendall]

one of the most beautiful parts of os x is the lack of viruses, spyware/adware and such. its such a relief just being able to web surf, check email, download apps, etc, without having to worry about flubbing up my computer.

i installed norton on my pc a few months back to find i had 12 vulnerabilities. basically viruses, spyware/adware, and trojans.

i dunno why apple doesnt play this card commercially. its huge. everyone in the pc world is suffering from this crap. it might be the greatest single advantage apple has over the pc world.

 

[Lycander]

Actually the difference between the way Apple and Microsoft handles patches is that: Mac users actually run updates and apply them. Microsoft on the other hand, put the patches out there but people are just too slow to update. Even worst is when admins are litterally afraid to apply a patch because it may break something. Happened to me a few times, I apply a patch and it breaks my system. I'm a programmer by profession, downtime, or anything that affects software compatibility is a serious red flag for me.

To be fair, people are also quick to blame things being broken in OSX after an update. I don't really want to get into statistics of which company has a higher rate of borking an update. Lets just leave it as: Windows users and admins fear Windows Updates almost as much as they fear the viri and exploits that the patches are suppose to fix, hehehe.

 

[RGrphc2]

Even worst is when admins are litterally afraid to apply a patch because it may break something. Happened to me a few times, I apply a patch and it breaks my system.

Lets just leave it as: Windows users and admins fear Windows Updates almost as much as they fear the viri and exploits that the patches are suppose to fix, hehehe.

its happened to me as well, i downloaded service pack 2 on my Wintel PC and it slowed down or stopped Mozilla, iTunes and someother programs that connect to the net...i was about 5 seconds away from switching to Linux.

 

[MacMuppet]

i installed norton on my pc a few months back to find i had 12 vulnerabilities. basically viruses, spyware/adware, and trojans.

Only 12? Whenever I install Ad-Aware on one of my user's PCs I regularly find 2-300 instances of adware and spyware. anything nastier is generally picked up by the anti-virus...

 

[Lycander]

its happened to me as well, i downloaded service pack 2 on my Wintel PC and it slowed down or stopped Mozilla, iTunes and someother programs that connect to the net...i was about 5 seconds away from switching to Linux.

Did you disable the firewall?

 

[RGrphc2]

Yea i have McAffee firewall express (never trust anything from M$) but whatever, i did the most logical thing to do...i removed SP2.

 

[Lycander]

I meant the built in Windows firewall. I heard some people say SP2 re-enables the Windows firewall, or installs a new one. Basically whenever I hear people complain about Internet program "XYZ" stopped working the typical response was to disable the firewall that SP2 installs/enables.

 

[smithy]

Ive always been a pc user and i switched to mac this month cause i was gettin sick of the pc crap with having adware installed on it and it was fully slowing down the machine. I downloaded some trial virus scanners and i think they gave up because i had over 1000 viruses on it literally over 1000. Thats why i changed to mac however i never had a virus scanner on my win 98 pc before i just didnt care about it that much. But i dont think apple should market the macs alot as virus free, for it may bring mac users that are to cause harm to our macs. However its a great advantage over windows isnt it ?

 

[ApeintheShell]

I remember back when Mac OS 8 was a hit and there were hacker applications loaded up on the PowerMacs at Texas A&M. Now I wonder if they were used against Windows or Mac?

 

[kendall]

I meant the built in Windows firewall. I heard some people say SP2 re-enables the Windows firewall, or installs a new one. Basically whenever I hear people complain about Internet program "XYZ" stopped working the typical response was to disable the firewall that SP2 installs/enables.

this seems to be the #1 incompatibility software has with SP2. its kind of silly because just about every software today is internet enabled. you're going to have to make permissions for whatever ports various software listen on. i dont really consider it an incompatibility.

also, SP2 doesnt enable windows firewall by default. you have to choose what to do after you install and restart. people seldom read whats going on though and just click next as fast as the can to get to the end.

 

[texanpenguin]

OK, Windows is very, very nicely supported with patches and security updates. They come out every second day, and Service Pack 2 is a very nice way to get it all up-to-date. Sure, SP2 will slow down the computer a little, just like Norton AntiVirus will. People just neglect to update, and a large percentage of people don't even know what Windows Update IS. On top of that, a very large percentage of Windows Installations use illegal serial numbers, and so are not able to have Service Packs installed.

I work at a PC repair store and we have Lavasoft Ad-Aware and NAV on every machine. Our record for Ad-Aware is over 750 malware applications. NAV has picked up over 800 viruses on some computers.

I'm glad our world isn't prone to such problems, but programs like LimeWire and others on Macs DO install spyware - and they tell you so - it's an "incentive" to upgrade to Pro. No system is invulnerable to human idiocy, and any program can write itself into memory residence and just open a hole into your system if a programmer is so inclined to write such a program. Let's not invite these annoyances upon ourselves.

We might be secure, but how much of it is security through obscurity, and how much of it is genuine security?

 

[fryke]

Keep this thread on Apple marketing or not marketing Mac OS X security, please...

 

[Viro]

Fryke, I think it isn't too tenuous to discuss PC vulnarabilities in a Mac OS X security thread. After all, it is supporting the marketing people at Apple's claims that Macs have better security than PCs. That said, I agree that left unchecked, this thread could go out of hand but I think the mods do a good job of that .