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pmbooks

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 23, 2005
307
63
California
Is it just the Windoze OS that's the target of the majority of virus attacks, or will the Intel inside make Macs more succeptible?
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
The OS and applications are what cause the vulnerabilities. The architecture has nothing to do with it.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Some people claim that the x86 processor family is more susceptible to buffer overflow exploits than the PPC family is. I don't understand all the details myself, but the basic idea is that in many cases the core issue of security vulnerabilities is that under certain situations, data that is supposed to be "information," but not "code," in that it is put in a place where executable code is not supposed to reside (i.e. inside a graphic file, or whatever), is allowed to act as code. The buffer overrun issue appears to be an area where a number of these exploit possibilities exist.

You can see more in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/134119/
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
Yeah, but if I run Darwin on x86 or PPC, it doesn't matter. The OS is handling the memory allocation and such.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Mikael said:
The NX bit in AMD K8 CPUs and Execute Disable bit in Intel CPUs are there to prevent buffer overflow exploits.

http://www.intel.com/business/bss/infrastructure/security/xdbit.htm

Thank you for the link! :)

So it says it's on the Pentium 4 line, and I'm assuming it's on the Pentium M as well? Is it on current Celerons?

Interesting that it is not supported by the latest Win2k. I guess that actually is one of the first relevant reasons to upgrade to XP! :eek: :eek:
 

wasimyaqoob

macrumors 6502a
Dec 23, 2005
577
1
London, England.
I read an article that said that Intel chips are more likely to attract hackers, because in order for the chips to work properly, Mac have to recode the OS therefore causing a loop hole which hackers can use - Only something I read but if its true, who knows?
 
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