Mac/iPad security perceptions will soon vanish

scottw 15 years ago |

Reminds me of some similar predictions:

"This is almost certainly the year of the OS X exploit" (Feb 2006) http://www.securityfocus.com/news/113758

iPhone to be target of hackers (December 2007) http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/121107-report-iphone-t...

Apple has a few extremely good security engineers (two of which were stolen from FreeBSD and whom I know personally). I've never believed OS X is bullet-proof, but it sure beats anything else I'd recommend to my 60+ year old mom. She's had more security problems with her garage than with her computer.

iqster 15 years ago | |

Same here. I recommend the iPad to older folks regularly. You are correct that there is no magic that prevents iOS from being compromised ... but their security model has been working well so far.

I taught a computer class to seniors in a community center a while ago ... I was horrified at the number of toolbars and browser plugins these people had managed to gather on their "mainstream" browsers/operating systems. My advice to them ... don't do online banking online!

hankejh 15 years ago | | |

"their security model has been working well so far" -- that is to say, the Mac security model, which has hardly been tested at all (relative to say, Windows), has been working well -- which isn't saying much.

scottw 15 years ago | | |

That may be, but it's been a blissful 10+ years. :)

Ribbing aside, the OS X security model is, generally speaking, the Unix security model, which has been around a lot longer than Windows. Henry Spencer is attributed with saying "Those who do not understand UNIX are condemned to reinvent it -- badly." Perhaps OS X has done it badly, but perhaps not as badly as others.

I agree that lack of security problems is not indicative of good security, but Apple does seem to be making good decisions. As I said earlier, they've got some super smart security people working for them and letting them drive the security model.

syncsynchalt 15 years ago |

"Security experts know, of course, that there’s nothing magical about Macs when it comes to security."

I suppose a conceptually simpler security model isn't "magical" but in my experience it usually does improve the security of a system.

demallien 15 years ago |

From the article: "With the Trojan installed on a Mac" Well, sure, but of course installing a trojan on a non-jailbroken iPad is pretty much impossible. And with the introduction of the Mac App Store it's going to be increasingly harder to convince Mac users to install non-App Store apps too.

nickolai 15 years ago |

TLDR version > Soon, even lynx users will no longer be safe! Feel the fear and buy our sponsored antivirus software!

I am somewhat doubtful regarding a mac-bashing article in the "microsoft report" folder. But maybe that's just me...

iqster 15 years ago |

I call BS on the headline. I don't understand how this applies to the iPad.

MatthewPhillips 15 years ago | |

The browser.