by Bob | Dec 2, 2008 | Local Tech Notes
Ars Technica churns out tech news articles faster than any service I know. And I follow ther outpout on Twitter. But sometimes they seem to just throw stuff out there without really giving much thought. Thus this article that points to a new Apple article that seems to indicate everyone should start using virus protection software (in spite of all their marketing hype that the Mac OS is invulnerable to virus attacks).The comments on the Ars Technica article are far more informative than the article itself. So, thank goodness for commentors.
Update: Looks like Apple took down the page because of the confusion it stirred up. I suppose it will replace it with a better written one.
The truth is no system is invulnerable. Some are just more so (various versions of Windows, for example). But the Mac OS has its own vulnerabilities. It’s main source of protection is still its lack of market share. No fun making a virus that attacks only 3% of the world’s computers. But as the Mac OS market share continues to grow, expect the attention by bad people to grow along with it. 8.9% market share isn’t bad
If you are looking for a free anti-virus program for Mac OS X check out ClamAVX.
by Bob | Jun 17, 2008 | Local Tech Notes
Spam, viruses, phishing attacks, denial of service attacks and other serious breaches in security are ongoing hazards of life on an open network like the public Internet. There is an ongoing battle between security professionals and the bad guys who want to breach the security. As one side improves network security, the other side finds new holes. But the truth is, no matter how secure certain levels of the Internet are made, hackers will always be able to exploit the weakest link: The end user.
Whether it’s through social engineering, brute force attacks, simple stealth programs unleashed through email, or a variety of other widely known strategies, hackers can eventually find keys to unlock computers and put them to work for their own purposes. But the naiveté of a large percentage of computer users make the hacker’s task that much easier, and make the jobs of system and network managers that much more difficult.
It’s a conundrum. We want computers and the Internet to be easy to use. And we can’t expect everyone to understand the dangers of having simple passwords, or the need to maintain good virus and securty software on personal computers.But this lack of understanding is one of the factors that makes the network so vulnerable. I don’t really see a way around this short of enforcing a set of protocols that will require some basic good practices on end users, whether at the personal computer level or at the network level with hosting, email and other types of accounts. This is unlikely to happen, so the battle will go on. But i am going to encourage our hosting clients to be better stewards of their accounts so I don’t have to spend so much time rooting out hacks.
