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Thread: OSX less secure than Windows?

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    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    OSX less secure than Windows?

    Apparently the writers at ZDNet have been saying something which I've been ranting on about for a couple of years now, that Apple has no design pattern or company management which promots security.

    Windows reckoned more secure than OS-X - The INQUIRER

    Its not helped by the fact they are behaving like MS did during the pre-Blaster hay days. But when you look at their offerings such as the iPhone it really rings true. I'm singling the iPhone out because the browser runs as a super user. Niiice. A windows mobile phone from over 3 years ago dosen't do that.
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    Re: OSX less secure than Windows?

    Yup - totally agree. Apple are lining themselves up for a big fall. The OS X firewall particularly sucks:

    A second look at the Mac OS X Leopard firewall - heise Security

    Apple is showing here a casual attitude with regard to security questions which strongly recalls that of Microsoft four years ago.
    They've been relying on security through obscurity for such a long time, but times are a changing as more and more people start using Macs.

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    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Re: OSX less secure than Windows?

    To be honest i doubt times will change any time soon. Enless there is a real squeeze (shortage) on idoits that happen to be on an windows computer, people will still target windows.

    But as for vendetta type attacks, Macs have never been considered safe in anything other than security via obscurity.
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    Re: OSX less secure than Windows?

    Macs are so uniquely identifiable amongst computers that if they suffer a serious blaster-like security breach it'll ruin their reputation.

    "There's a Mac, they're really insecure"

    Whereas no other brand of computer has that issue...

    "There's a Packard Bell, they're really insecure" doesn't really hold.

    Sure, there's still the "Windows is crap security" angle, but in Apple's case the security issue would be perceived through both the software and the hardware... BIG FALL as somebody else said.
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    Re: OSX less secure than Windows?

    i never knew Apple was safe other than the fact that people don't target them...

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    Re: OSX less secure than Windows?

    One of the things about the mac system that makes it insecure, is that for so long they (Apple) have been sold on the security issue. People haven't been trained in good security procedures when using a mac (because they haven't really needed to be), so it would/does make them an easier mark.

    In a way mac users are in a worse position than windows users. When I first started using a pc the majority of hacking resources aimed at me were from someone wanting to show his/her expertise at hacking/writing code and, at worse, would trash my system. I would have to reinstall everything, a bind, but not so serious. You learnt to be a little more careful about attachments/website and keeping AV & AS upto date.

    Now we have fullgrown cyber criminals, whose aim is not to change your browsers homepage or scrawl graffitti on a webpage, but to use your pc for monetary gain. This is what mac users (in the foreseeable future) are going to face and it's going to be a hard shock realising that their secure OS isn't all that secure after all.

    When the mac os is worth attacking, it will be attacked and breached, the users more vulnarable due to complacency.

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