[Steve_S]

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n January, security researcher Neil Archibald, who has already been credited with finding numerous vulnerabilities in OS X, told ZDNet Australia that he knows of numerous security vulnerabilities in Apple's operating system that could be exploited by attackers.

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The problem is, most people reading these articles (apparently yourself included) don't understand that there is a significant leap between a software vulnerability and a working exploit. Further, Unix based system typically have levels of security. That is, on Windows, most are running as admin and once the exploit occurs, the door is open for malware do whatever they want. That's typically not the case in OS X. It's not like malware attempts have not been made with OS X. They have. Fortunately, the "proof of concept" attempts were never able to get off the ground due to the multiple levels of security required to do so.

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I could find plently more articles like this. Hackers don't care about OS X right now. They want to cripple corporate networks, bring down the Internet - big scale things. The more damage you do, the better. This can't be acheived targeting Mac users.

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Finding articles indicating any software has "vulnerabilities" isn't exactly a revelation. We all know this. However, Windows is a bigger target because it affects more people AND it's EASIER to hack. Many Windows viruses are just slight modifications of previous attempts. The "fixes" are themselves - hacks in many cases.
As for Macs not being targeted, that comment simply doesn't hold water. It's clear that Macs are targeted from all of the public stunts over the past few years such as the proof of concept malware items, the David Maynor's attack which required 3rd party wireless drivers, etc., the "month of Apple bugs", etc. They are trying and they are trying desperately to discredit Apple's security record. Additionally, as already pointed out to you, what about Mac Classic? Does OS X have any less users? Mac Classic had what 30-40 viruses? That's not much, but it is expectedly lower as a result of lower market share. Still, where are the OS X working viruses and adware, etc. ?

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Yes, Mac OS X is by nature a more secure beast, but there are extremely smart hackers out there too.

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Agreed. Again, so where are all of the OS X pieces of malware?

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Thinking that there are no major problems effecting Mac OS X because they CAN'T is just stupid.

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Agreed. But, thinking no successful OS X malware exists is due to Mac's low market share is possibly even more stupid. History has proven otherwise with Mac Classic, and most security "experts" have no love for OS X in terms of trying to avoid it and making Apple look bad. Believe me, they all want to be the first to be recognized with creating Mac OS X malware.
Steve

[SPOOF]

"back in the days"...when OS 7 and 8 were state of the art...there was an awesome program called HyperCard. The player for this software shipped on every Mac, and it was good.
There was this virus, the XMas virus, that ran in HyperCard and infected all of the "stacks" (programs) that Hypercard knew about, including the main one on a system (the "home" stack). It all became rather silly, and all it did was make you unable to work on Christmas by displaying a tree. But, a friend and I were able to sit down and dissect it, and sent out a stack that would immunize people from it...essentially infecting them with only the portion that the virus looked for to see if it needed to copy itself, and rendering it harmless.
These days, dealing with a virus would be a much bigger issue and harder to do. Fortunately, they're also harder to create, and even harder to get a user to run. Thankfully, there is anti-virus software. Thankfully we haven't had to care much and use it just yet.

[jad713]

Doesn't matter. This Bloomberg analyst says the iPhone will be a failure.
http://www.bloomberg...MAv0&refer=home

[greydog]

"I can't wait to steal someone's iPhone, spend the next 6 mos. of my life hacking it apart and then releasing a disabling virus just to say I did so". Maybe there aren't enough after-school activities after all?
So could it be this is why Jobs is not including every little fluffy feature all the techno-geeks want? No OTA purchase of iTunes? No BT syncing? Maybe this is to preserve the scurity of the device until it can be battle tested?
Or, maybe it's just a conspiracy. You know, you don't have to buy one just because Apple says so.

[greydog]

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Doesn't matter. This Bloomberg analyst says the iPhone will be a failure.
http://www.bloomberg...MAv0&refer=home

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Brilliant - simply the best editorial written on the iPhone thus far. The clarity of vision, the enlightened understanding, the sheer magnitude of perception is other-worldly, far beyond the mere collective mental capacity of the "Apple masses" who worship at the Alter of Jobs.
This piece earns a place on the Pulitzer list right next to other star revelations as:
"The Mac is a toy suitable only for the rich and geeky"
"iPod - cute but utterly silly, certainly not worthy of the attention of Sony or Rio"
"OS X looks interesting but will never take even 1% away from Windows"

Last I heard, Steve said, "we hope to grab just 1% of the cell phone market, but we will cause a revolution in design others will have to follow". Did I miss something?

[daneb]

I really wonder if LMH, who, I believe just has a really stupid name (that's why he uses the initials) is being paid by some of the anti-virus companies (McAfee, Symantec, etc.) to find vulnerabilities/hacks/viruses for MacOSX so they can actually sell a product to Mac users. I work with PCs all day (unfortunately) and a lot guys here really believe that viruses are either created or paid for to be created by the big anti-virus companies. I think we'd be surprised at what's actually going on behind the scenes. Do you think LMH really has nothing better to do with his time than spend a full day looking for OS X vulnerabilities? I doubt it.

[venividivici]

alert:
Please make sure to not disclose or 'hack' the many vulnerabilities that the iPhone has, as it could:
- Unleash world peace
- Make earth the center of the universe
- And ultimately: make you the master of the universe
p.s. If you hack the iPhone within 24 hours of your first attempt, you will be given virgins after life as well.

[ChrisB123]

webman,
You've got some nice articles to quote and such but do any of them explain why OS 9 was affected by several viruses yet OS X is not? I would admit that OS 9 would probably have as many viruses as Windows 95 if it had the same market share, however, the only line of reasoning I can come up with that makes any sense to explain the OS 9 and OS X differences is that OS X is far more secure than OS 9 was. Yes, people will find vulnerabilities for OS X but there is almost always going to be some aspect of it's security model that either makes it difficult to spread or difficult to do much damage.

[johnnydo]

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I really wonder if LMH, who, I believe just has a really stupid name (that's why he uses the initials) is being paid by some of the anti-virus companies (McAfee, Symantec, etc.) to find vulnerabilities/hacks/viruses for MacOSX so they can actually sell a product to Mac users. I work with PCs all day (unfortunately) and a lot guys here really believe that viruses are either created or paid for to be created by the big anti-virus companies. I think we'd be surprised at what's actually going on behind the scenes. Do you think LMH really has nothing better to do with his time than spend a full day looking for OS X vulnerabilities? I doubt it.

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What stupid comment.
I guess you think companies that create cancer fighting drugs also produce cancer causing chemicals! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Rhywun]

The correct term is "crack", not "hack". Real hackers write useful software and have no interest in the juvenile pranks practiced by the "cracker" community.

[SPOOF]

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The correct term is "crack", not "hack". Real hackers write useful software and have no interest in the juvenile pranks practiced by the "cracker" community.

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Very good correction.
I wish more people would learn to use these terms correctly.

[Peter Cohen]

The problem here (and this is just my own issue, not reflective of Macworld's official editorial stance) is that "cracker" is also an offensive racial epithet for a lower income white. Considering that, "Crackers can't wait for iPhone" takes on an entirely new meaning, and I think it's pretty clear to the general public what we're referring to when we say "Hackers" instead.

[tomtom]

These guys, especially the Security Industry (Software and Consultants) whose only form of marketing is FEAR are all Leeches and can only be compared to Theater and Movie Critics.

[OM_user]

Whether we call them "crackers" or "hackers" I think it's clear the type of lower life forms we're talking about. What a sad and pathetic excuse for existence these people have!
These hackers/crackers are nothing more than the adult versions of that kid in the sandbox or playground from your youth who would come over and knock down that masterpiece sandcastle or building blocks structure you were making, just to make themselves feel better because they couldn't do it themselves. They revel in breaking other peoples work, which is not a normal human reaction. I honestly feel these people need serious psychiatric help.
The only difference is that if they did that to someone in person now, as 'adults', if we can call them that, they'd get the poo kicked out of them, or arrested, so they need to hide under anonymous names and enact their vengence on the world from the safety of the Internet, and disguise it as "security work". Yeah, right!
To them all I say: "Get a LIFE and most of all, get some HELP!"