January 16th, 2006
Are Mac users too complacent about security?
The BBC News says Mac users are "too smug". Commentator Bill Thompson says:
Mac users demonstrate an indefensible smugness when it comes to the dangers of having their systems compromised by malicious software and opened up to exploitation by others
Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger here. ;-)
Thompson also says:
After all, Mac OS is built on top of the Unix operating system and it, like its close relative Linux, has many well-known security problems that can allow it to be compromised.
Thompson says one reason there aren’t many threats to Macs is that there are fewer Mac users, and qualifies his statements by saying there are obviously not the "gaping holes" and potential vulnerabilities in the Mac OS as in Windows, but he is concerned that the Mac community seems to feel immune to malware attacks, which is precisely why he anticipates that Mac users will be targeted at some point. Thompson recommends that the Mac firewall be used as well as tools to scan for malicious software and hacking on a Mac.
Speaking of tools to scan for malicious software, I received an email from a representative of MacScan recently about the release of MacScan 2.0 for Mac OS X. MacScan targets spyware, key loggers, trojans and remote administration tools. It also removes Internet history, browser caches and download histories. I do not have a Mac, so I haven’t tried this app. I’d interested to hear from someone who has used it. There is a trial version available.
BBC News link via Donna’s SecurityFlash.
Since I mentioned Linux, here’s something for the Linux fans here. You have made an impression, so I now have in my possession a Knoppix DVD that says Knoppix 4.0 for i386. I chose this from a web page selling Linux products and have no idea if it will even work on my machine. Actually, the plan is to set up a virtual machine running Knoppix. Any advice or suggestions welcomed. There’s an interesting post here in Ask Bloggie called Can you make Linux easy?. Maybe I’ll discover the answer.
