DCAWD.com

To all of our Mac Panthers out there.

Your time has come!

"Mac user base aura of smugness on security."

DEFCON!

<DISCLAIMER>.... There were just as many driver vulnerabilities with machines running Windows as well...</DISCLAIMER>

The hacker's presentation focused on the macbook because there is a bit of a misconception that mac users are "smug" about security.

ANY system can be compromised... But if you want to talk about ease of rooting.... how about rooting a winxp box in three lines... no driver hacking required...

zing!

complacent wrote:The hacker's presentation focused on the macbook because there is a bit of a misconception that mac users are "smug" about security.

Gee with the media and marketing campaign, I wonder why?

I have to admit that the people who are the most vocal proponents of Macism are very polar. As a result the aloofness and "mac guru" stigma gets propogated more than anything else in the public mindset.

The article did give fair shakes to vulnerabilities on both platforms as the root cause is the same. The dudes just wanted to stick it to the Macs by using them to demonstrate. Nothing different than the ads are doing in the popular culture.

Now that XP hack is going to come in quite handy...

WOW it's crazy how bad info travels around the internet, I was told about this hack a little while ago, now there's a how to video already online! Too bad you can't run AT as anything but an Admin.

zaxrex wrote:
Gee with the media and marketing campaign, I wonder why?

I have to admit that the people who are the most vocal proponents of Macism are very polar. As a result the aloofness and "mac guru" stigma gets propogated more than anything else in the public mindset.

<Soapbox>I'll agree with that to a point... Are there a "ton" of mac-zealots out there? yes. Are they just as uninformed as the windows zealots would would offer a retort? Of course.

Are there fewer virii written for the mac os? yes. by a large factor (try 1000:1)

Can both platforms be used securely in an enterprise environment? yes.

For the "average" home user, which system is inherently more secure and requires less work to maintain that level of security? mac os. Given the level of education the "average" home user has, I would think that simpler would be better (for them).

Can both systems be compromised? HELLS YES

Do I think both systems are viable and capable? Of course.

As far as the commercials are concerned... Put a WinXP box and a Mac OS X box on the internet - without any anti-virus software or anti-spyware software... Which one do you think is going to go longer without infection? You tell me...

</soapbox>

Libra Monkee wrote:
Your time has come!

WRONG!!!


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread. ... 242&page=3

Looks like it was a fluke! Macs are still invaulnerible!!!!!!

ahahhhaahhaaahah

awesome.

i will admit though.. contrairy to the commericals i DO crash my mac.

i hate to break it to you guys... but the macbook chipset is vulnerable... Apple asked him not to post the hack for their chipset until after it had been fixed. That's why he used an external card.

linky

thanks for ruining it colin.............

I hate you.

gsx-lex wrote:thanks for ruining it colin.............

I hate you.

That what you get for contradicting me. Don't you know? Chuck is always right?

Add to this the rather simple fact that updating your Mac to fix vulnerabilities isn't automatic...you can turn it off and I have seen quite a few users THAT DO TURN IT OFF.

One of my clients has an office full of computers and in May of this year when I showed up to go through there office and reconfigure and secure things for the arrival of our system they were still on XP SP1 with no updates for over a year. When I asked WHY? The answer I was given was that he didn't get around to it....for over a year!

My point that I have made before is that Stupid User Syndrome will kill either platform....please don't be so smug in yor Mac-ness. I run them at my office and happen to really like them but I can crash them in a heartbeat if I feel like it.

I found a really well written article from the mac users' perspective... It is not smug, it does not bash, and pretty much encompasses the majority of my thoughts on the matter.

A good read, found here.