There has been a lot of talk in the press recently about how secure Mac OS X really is and how much Mac user have to be concerned about security department . While Apple enunciate they are very serious about security concerns , Mac user , for the most part , have been insensible .
“ Proof of concepts are out there but end users have not been touch on by exploits in the wild the way they typically are with some other platforms , ” Bud Tribble , Apple ’s vice president of Software Technology , differentiate Macworld . “ It ’s never good to say do n’t be concerned about security measures , however , the actual effects on users of our platform are minimal . ”
Tribble — who ferment for Apple as manager of the original Macintosh Software team where he helped to design the Mac OS — said often time there is more to the story than what is originally report by the press .
One such incident chance sooner this month when a Swedish humanity adjust up his Mac mini as a server and invite the great unwashed to seek to burst into the organisation and gain root control condition . Within hours of the challenge going live , it was over , as a hack put on etymon dominance of the Mac mini .
What was not initially reported , however , was that anyone that wanted to hack the machine was yield access to the computer through a local account ( which could be access via SSH ) , so the Mac mini was n’t hack from outside — root accession was actually gained from a local user account .
“ There is certainly a leaning to make news out of every possible exploit on the Mac simply because it is more unusual than on some other platforms , ” state Tribble . “ A lot of times when you look behind the news , it is a fiddling bit of a stretch . ”
That allege Apple does specify security issues in Mac OS X whenever they rise , but most times , these are before the issues are even known publicly .
“ These updates tend to be more prophylactic , ” said Tribble . “ They are n’t exploit in the wild that you are actively seek to preclude . user should never be complacent about security – we are n’t here . We are highly proactive in pay off attention to these thing and carry off them when we bump them . ”
Many Mac users openly boast about the lack of antivirus and security software they practice on their estimator because the Mac is a safe program . Apple show out that a peck of security measuring rod are look after for the users , so even the most inexperient estimator user can feel safe when using a Mac .
“ We actually ramp up a lot of surety functionality into Mac OS X include things like download validation , flagging dust ring armor , making sure the port wine are turned off , and we have a firewall there if you need it . There are a lot of things we do , ” said Tribble .
