OS X Suffered Over Five Times More Vulnerabilities than Windows in 2007

[Jimmy 2004]

A few years ago, one of the biggest weapons in a Mac user's arsenal for any Windows vs OS X debate was that Apple's operating system was more secure than Microsoft's. However, the statistics compiled by ZDNet (which are shown in the table below) tell a very different story for this year. Combined, Windows XP and Vista saw a total of 44 flaws, whilst Max OS X experienced 243 - over five times more. Overall, Macs had 234 highly critical vulnerabilities compared to just 23 for Windows, although admittedly Mac OS X had no extremely critical flaws, whilst Windows had four. This would seem to suggest that the tables have turned a little, which could well be linked to the fact that Macs have become more popular over the last couple of years and as a result there is a greater incentive to hack them.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[hacker111]

I am not surprised. Windows is the better company anyways...

 

[Ravenas]

I am not surprised. Windows is the better company anyways...

Windows isn't a company.

 

[Darknova]

Or maybe OSX is just a bug-ridden, unsecure POS and it's only now that they are being targetted people are finding this out?

Meh.

 

[Ravenas]

Me thinks that this is kinda inaccurate if you read the source. But heck, I could be wrong.

 

[sheps999]

Mac fanboys can shove it, imo.

 

[FatForester]

Wow, I just got in an argument over this yesterday! If this is accurate, I'm pretty surprised at the gap. I can see how Apple is in shock over its increasing popularity, but not enough to where they suffer five times the vulnerabilities of Windows. OSX has had a fairly good track record, and if this is the repercussions of growing 1% up to 8% market share... then this is pretty pathetic.

On the link to zdnet, there's another link regarding the security of OSX. This guy sums it up quite well, and states that OSX isn't necessarily secure, but more "safe". Here's the link, it has an interesting metaphor regarding OS X vs. Windows. http://www.matasano.com/log/644/safety-vs-security-2/

 

[craigwhiteside]

lol steve must be shi***ng in his pants right bout now

 

[FatForester]

lol steve must be shi***ng in his pants right bout now

Nah, he'll just make an annoying commercial denouncing Secunia's credibility and existence. Sad thing is, that would probably work...

 

[craigwhiteside]

lol, not if everyone started talking bout it , start a revolution to put the mac daddy out of business xD

 

[FatForester]

lol, not if everyone started talking bout it , start a revolution to put the mac daddy out of business xD

True, but if everyone started talking about it, the wars would be so huge between Apple die-hards and normal people that the internet might explode. Of course, even after that there'll always be the die hards..

 

[craigwhiteside]

but pc die hards, are the most brutal
so we would win

 

[mdm-adph]

but pc die hards, are the most brutal
so we would win

You just have to be including Linux fans in that group as well, to think that.

 

[craigwhiteside]

of course there in the pc group , im a linux fan too you know

and well you know im brutal, look at my avatar

 

[Disparia]

Join up with Sun T1 / T2 users??

 

[das müffin mann]

so much for macs are better than pc's argument

 

[Scrizz]

lol

 

[XooM]

and people say vista is garbage... ;-)
20 security flaws in an entire year? MacOS does that in a month!

 

[jurrasstoil]

and people say vista is garbage... ;-)
20 security flaws in an entire year? MacOS does that in a month!

Well, Vista might have less security flaws but is in any other way just a big failure...
I'll stick with XP.

What i've seen from the new Mac OS X KittyKat or what its name is, is the new shiny stuff and the lack of backwards compatibility for stuff like photoshop 7.0, etc.

Since Mac is only used by Hippies, who gives a sh*t about security on these things, noone wants to steal their data. They don't have important data or money, so Hackers ignore them anyway.

 

[das müffin mann]

Well, Vista might have less security flaws but is in any other way just a big failure...
I'll stick with XP.

What i've seen from the new Mac OS X KittyKat or what its name is, is the new shiny stuff and the lack of backwards compatibility for stuff like photoshop 7.0, etc.

Since Mac is only used by Hippies, who gives a sh*t about security on these things, noone wants to steal their data. They don't have important data or money, so Hackers ignore them anyway.

lol

 

[Ravenas]

Nah, he'll just make an annoying commercial denouncing ZDNet's credibility and existence. Sad thing is, that would probably work...

This has nothing to do with ZD NET, as they just got information from a 3rd party company. If you read the article, you would have seen where this information came from.

 

[Dangle]

Me thinks that this is kinda inaccurate if you read the source. But heck, I could be wrong.

LOL... someone's pissed!

 

[FatForester]

This has nothing to do with ZD NET, as they just got information from a 3rd party company. If you read the article, you would have seen where this information came from.

I did read it, but I guess glossed over the part where he mentioned Secunia. I was obviously joking in my post, but if it'll make you feel any better I've gone ahead and changed it.

 

[Ravenas]

I did read it, but I guess glossed over the part where he mentioned Secunia. I was obviously joking in my post, but if it'll make you feel any better I've gone ahead and changed it.

Lol nah it's cool, I don't care that much. It's kinda funny how Secunia came up with these "calculations" and a guy at ZD makes a blog saying OS X suffered 5x more vulnerabilities than Windows.

 

[imperialreign]