Apple 10 Years Behind Microsoft on Security: Kaspersky Lab

[btarunr]

A Flashback trojan that affected over 600,000 OS X machines with relative ease, earlier this month, exposed gaping holes in the OS X software architecture and got industry experts discussing how competent Apple is at dealing with the threat of malware, on its end. Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of security company Kaspersky Lab, believes that Apple is "10 years behind Microsoft in terms of security," and the ease with which scores of OS X machines could be compromised by malware in the recent times formed the basis of his assertion.

"For many years I've been saying that from a security point of view there is no big difference between Mac and Windows. It's always been possible to develop Mac malware, but this one was a bit different. For example it was asking questions about being installed on the system and, using vulnerabilities, it was able to get to the user mode without any alarms," Kaspersky commented. Increase in malware and cybercrime against OS X machines, according to him are "just a question of time and market share. Cyber criminals have now recognised that Mac is an interesting area. Now we have more, it's not just Flashback or Flashfake. Welcome to Microsoft's world, Mac. It's full of malware."



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[erixx]

Am lovin' it! Going to stick this up to many colleagues hoho Sorry

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Not surprising at all. Windows NT 6.0 most significant changes were on the security front. They had to have learned a thing or two from two decades of fighting malware.

 

[tomkaten]

Oh, the sweet irony... What, the "fortress" has been toppled ?

This just goes to show that the most affected OS's are the most used ones. Get a solid foothold in the personal computer market and you're a target, no matter what your innards may be like.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Oh, the sweet irony... What, the "fortress" has been toppled ?

This just goes to show that the most affected OS's are the most used ones. Get a solid foothold in the personal computer market and you're a target, no matter what your innards may be like.

They were fortress during PPC era, when there was pain in the ass to compile malware using power PC arch...

Now with Intel doors are open... In my opinion... punish em hard!!

 

[the54thvoid]

Have to say as a PC person, I was a bit annoyed by the occasional person saying Macs don't get viruses.

It's always been the case that nobody bothered really giving them any. Now Apple is the biggest company in the universe I think it's going to get a shitstorm of attacks.

However, smugness doesn't deserve a virus. If I had a Mac and it was crippled by a Virus or my details stolen, I'd be as pissed off as any PC owner. Just cos it's tech Karma, doesn't make it right.

 

[Jetster]

But no one writes viruses for Apple because there only like 5% of the market. Of course there behind

 

[Yo_Wattup]

currently trolling my hipster friends right now using this information. thanks bta

 

[NC37]

They were fortress during PPC era, when there was pain in the ass to compile malware using power PC arch...

Now with Intel doors are open... In my opinion... punish em hard!!

Ahh the good days. Still love my PPC Macs. Best Macs ever designed.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Ahh the good days. Still love my PPC Macs. Best Macs ever designed.

Yeah you're right... At least I had respect for them justifying the price and quality...

Now? Overpriced foxconn cheap china stuff with a mere Intel CPU? Pff... no thanks... I'll better spend that money on beer and women.

 

[Frick]

But no one writes viruses for Apple because there only like 5% of the market. Of course there behind

This.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Linux was attacked on a large scale. They have security from the ground up though, but still.

 

[Ferrum Master]

This.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Linux was attacked on a large scale. They have security from the ground up though, but still.

What will happen? The linux user will find the one who did harm to him and make a revenge?

 

[Andrei23]

I want to see apple fanboys cry when their shiny idevices will fall prey to malware.

 

[laszlo]

as i posted a while ago mac don't get viruses only if u don't use them...

 

[NC37]

Yeah you're right... At least I had respect for them justifying the price and quality...

Now? Overpriced foxconn cheap china stuff with a mere Intel CPU? Pff... no thanks... I'll better spend that money on beer and women.

I hear that. Heck, Apple increased prices on Macs when they switched after saying the switch would lower prices. But Mac users were in such blind euphoria about it that they never cared Jobs lied to their faces.

Apple might as well just make only software. Invest all the R&D from stagnant Mac design into plugging the security, then allow people to make the Mac hardware they want. Sadly, they'd likely raise the price of OSX up a few hundred to make it worth it. In the end, we'd save nothing.

 

[xBruce88x]

If it can be made by man, man can screw it up...

 

[claylomax]

Schadenfreude anybody?

 

[RejZoR]

If it can be made by man, man can screw it up...

That doesn't apply if you're just plain ignorant. Do you remember for how long ppl were screaming "Mac doesn't need antivirus" ?

 

[VulkanBros]

MAC or any computer system for that matter are in danger of getting virus/malware/spyware/i-will-come-after-you-ware.......

It is the human, 40 centimeters behind the screen, that is the greatest threat, IMO

Common sense, in most scenarios, will outperform the most infections......

 

[Steevo]

They were fortress during PPC era, when there was pain in the ass to compile malware using power PC arch...

Now with Intel doors are open... In my opinion... punish em hard!!

Try again, the power PC was hacked first at hacking competitions.

Windows Vista/7 X64 with its random writes means most users are protected by their own OS against hijacks, most exploits come from other software like Java, however it IS the operating systems job to assign resources, rights and schedule time. Its unfortunate for both when software makers leave gaping holes that cause the OS to become vunerable to attack.



But overall MS is more secure than Mac, and has been since Windows 2000, or even the early versions of NT they based all the later operating systems on.

 

[dorsetknob]

Schadenfreude anybody?

OR
morose delectation (English )
Roman holiday (English )
skadefryd (Danish and Norwegian )
skadeglädje.(Swedish )
epichairekakia (ἐπιχαιρεκακία) (Greek )

 

[phanbuey]

I definitely believe that they are far behind Microsoft in terms of security, but what is really massive pile of BS in this article is the 10 year estimate...

10 years of what? Its a time estimate, which means you MUST have a rate of progress estimate to even get there (gap/annual progress = years to close gap). 10 years of what then? one person coding security for osX? what if there are 2 people, does it drop to 5 years?

That's why this guy is totally full of it, completely made up the 10 year number (which is suspiciously neat) so he wouldn't sound like a dipstick by saying "Apple is far behind Microsoft in security Dee Dee Dee. I don't know how far, since apple doesnt tell me what they are working on durrr...."

 

[Steevo]

I definitely believe that they are far behind Microsoft in terms of security, but what is really massive pile of BS in this article is the 10 year estimate...

10 years of what? Its a time estimate, which means you MUST have a rate of progress estimate to even get there (gap/annual progress = years to close gap). 10 years of what then? one person coding security for osX? what if there are 2 people, does it drop to 5 years?

That's why this guy is totally full of it, completely made up the 10 year number (which is suspiciously neat) so he wouldn't sound like a dipstick by saying "Apple is far behind Microsoft in security Dee Dee Dee. I don't know how far, since apple doesnt tell me what they are working on durrr...."

Your right the guy that founded and owns the company that makes (one of the better) anti-virus/malware/trojan for Mac's has no idea about what vulnerabilities. Compared to the same software they make for PC.

http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/home-computer-security/anti-virus-for-mac


durr hurr hurr, I make dis softwarez and we doezntzx know what it doeszzzz.....

 

[phanbuey]

Your right the guy that founded and owns the company that makes (one of the better) anti-virus/malware/trojan for Mac's has no idea about what vulnerabilities. Compared to the same software they make for PC.

http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/home-computer-security/anti-virus-for-mac


durr hurr hurr, I make dis softwarez and we doezntzx know what it doeszzzz.....

Oh no, he knows the gap - yeah it's a big gap. But 10 years number he pulled out of his ass.

 

[semantics]

it's not 10 years behind in security features but 10 years behind in security culture in the quoted context. It's just a comment on how long it took them to respond to known vulnerabilities.