"Mac users too smug over security"

[Marky_Mark]

I know we've had a lot about these 'viruses' - I'm inviting comment about the sentiments expressed in the article about users' attitudes, rather than the malware itself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4609968.stm

 

[jadekitty24]

I wouldn't consider myself smug about how safe Macs are, but I would say I'm smug about how I compute. I know how my system should be set up, for the most part, and how to use it properly. In my experiences most problems with viruses and such are caused by the user, whether they knowingly take chances with their personal data or whether they make bad choices unknowingly.

 

[whooleytoo]

I agree, for the most part. Some Mac users are unjustifiably smug about security on the Mac. But as recent issues (in particular, the OSX / LaunchServices hole) show, we're just very fortunate there isn't an active malware-writing community on the Mac side.

 

[FSUSem1noles]

I agree, for the most part. Some Mac users are unjustifiably smug about security on the Mac. But as recent issues (in particular, the OSX / LaunchServices hole) show, we're just very fortunate there isn't an active malware-writing community on the Mac side.

I think that's a big part of it as well, the malware writing community for Mac is very, very small...

Many, many people have preconceived notions about Macs that will never, ever change..

 

[Applespider]

This was discussed when it was first posted about a month ago along with Bill Thompson's follow-up on how he'd meant something slightly different than the initial report suggested.

First Thread
Second Thread

 

[pseudobrit]

I agree, for the most part. Some Mac users are unjustifiably smug about security on the Mac. But as recent issues (in particular, the OSX / LaunchServices hole) show, we're just very fortunate there isn't an active malware-writing community on the Mac side.

There would be if the Mac (or UNIX, for that matter) system were anywhere near as inherently vulnerable as Windows. There are no Mac viruses because they wouldn't spread very far if at all.

You can watch any of these malware scripts that exploit the Terminal vuln at work. It's all above the table and right on your monitor. And it's free and easy to block such things happening. Can we say anything remotely like that about Windows vulns?

Windows gets viruses because it's a sloppy POS, not because it's the dominant system.
If the Mac was this sucky there'd be a thousand packet monkeys cooking up worms for it every day.