Thread: The tide is turning?

Originally Posted by Delta_Farce

you're probably the only person on this site that can claim that unless there are some OpenBSD users here

Gosh OpenBSD, I use Linux on all the systems I have running.... I dont have issues with Viruses but I still run AntiVirus and a Firewall on all the systems.

Originally Posted by Captian_Rightfoot

Bahahaha!! I'm quaking in my boots... LOL.

LOL you surely put me in my place

And what you said is right these have never been major threats to OSX, but as Apple gains more market share people will begin to shift there attention to Apple products and invest more time into developing exploits for the Apple products.

Also as there is a larer market share of apple products it will be easier for issues as mentioned before to survive in the wild.

This is also true for platforms like the iPhone if it is adopted in business the same situation is most likely.

Security through obscurity only works for so long.

I bought my mac book pro when they first came out about 9 years ago or so and till now I had no virus or any hardware problems. Now running OS 10.3.9 and with a small amount of regular maintenance it runs like new.
It's only a 400 GHZ - 10 GB Hard-drive - 750 MB Memory, in other words a little Pygmy in a world of today's Giants with massive hard drives, fast processors and large memory capacity.
It's obviously a bit slow then today's computers but I run Adobe products in it without problems (Photoshop, Illustrator etc.)

I just want to say that I had a Packard Bell PC once before the Mac, and it lasted me two years till the power supply died then not long after, the motherboard.
This MAC has been running with no problems for the past 9 years.

Fine, you pay more for them but you get what you pay for.

Originally Posted by dale

Security through obscurity only works for so long.

Look, the problem is it's fundamentally much more difficult (I'm not saying it's impossible). There are more than enough macs out there that someone would have already done it by now if it was easily possible. I mean not even once to access 11% of the north american computer market??

The other thing that I think you lot have completely failed to grasp is that Apple is a far smaller company, that is making nearly as much profit as MS. I'm sure they want to do better, but with their current business model (of supplying HW and SW) it is just logistically impossible for them to seriously degrade the MS market share. I'm implying that they are doing as well as they want to.

Does the concept of big enough to attack but too small to be hit mean anything to you all?

A Mac webserver has been compromised at work today. The Solaris, Linux and Windows ones are fine though. Seems someone managed to add a redirection rule to the server and deface a web page.

Should I now conclude that Apple security is lax, or is it more likely that the configuration of the web sever and associated services is the problem?

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Look, the problem is it's fundamentally much more difficult (I'm not saying it's impossible). There are more than enough macs out there that someone would have already done it by now if it was easily possible. I mean not even once to access 11% of the north american computer market??

They do have a growing market share and are making money hand over fist, but what needs to be under stood here is that Virus/Trojan/Malware writers are in it for the money and not to stick it to Apple and Steve Jobs. So it is the more 'business savy' thing for the people writing the exploits to attack 89% of computers or 11%.

This is with out even getting into discussions of which code base is better, because that is simple as OSX is based on FreeBSD and has there hard work incorporated into there OS providing OSX with a stron and secure code for them to develop upon.

When there is money involved and that is all Virus/Trojan/Malware is about these days it ie all about the numbers.

Also I think it is time to drop that I only use Mac and Unix products where I work and at home and Apple gear are great products and of awesome quality but it is important for mac users to not feel invincible and under stand why they are not in the cross hairs.

Also we have not even touched on 3rd party apps and the FAIL there... ADOBE PDF any one LOL

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Does the concept of big enough to attack but too small to be hit mean anything to you all?

Means nothing but has me supremely curious. Could you Elaborate?

Originally Posted by dale

Means nothing but has me supremely curious. Could you Elaborate?

Well, with Apple's current size they are beneficial to Microsoft. They help them stay out of anti competition troubles. What's more, while they are this small changing their pricing structure to match Apple's prices would only hurt themselves.

It was a bit like Ansett lowering their prices to attack Compass when compass only had 6 planes, so the amount of business they could take from them was finite. They should have just ignored them and concentrated on their own cost structures.

Anyway, this might interest some of you and will no doubt be the reason for another tirade from the mainstream thinkers It's kind of what I've been saying all along. You pay a bit more for a mac up front but over the life of the computer it usually works out OK.

TCO: Macs int enterprise are easier, and cheaper to manage than Windows PCs

Originally Posted by Scallops

And what a content, virus / malware / no anti everything software equipped trio we are too!

make that one more!!!and in two sites Nz and Russia, maybe that makes 5?

Did my first digital electronics course in '77, bought my first PC in '81 (a monster with 64K mem and dual 5" floppy drives). Used PC for years and upon first exposure to Vista a MBP joined the family. 3 months later an Imac also appeared. They both have Parallels running XP as there are things I can still only do on a PC.

For day to day using a Mac is unbeatable but I still can't replace the PC that runs my irrigation system with a Mac.
When told I had to use an IPhone I went into "Not another new phone to learn mode". After two weeks use I had not had to threaten it with destruction by hammer attack, a absolute first.

Would like to play with Win 7 but find it hard to part with $200-300 for it. Just bought the latest MacOS for $52 for a 5 license for home use.
I love the Mac overall easy to use, spell check everywhere, autofill stuff based on how I've used it previously the list goes on and on.

Virus/malware/spyware/etcware we are all vulnerable, anything man made can be man broken eventually.
After all they are just FRED's (F****** Ridiculous Electronic Devices)