mechBgon
Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
The 2006-003 update is available, and you can get it by using your OS's Software Update feature (thanks halfadder 🙂), or by downloading it manually from here. Patch away. 🙂
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Mac OS X security update available
- Thread starter mechBgon
- Start date
Commodus
Diamond Member
First: Mac, not MAC (which typically refers to Media Access Control IDs on network adapters). Thanks. 🙂
Second, I think few Mac users would ever argue that Macs were immune to viruses. But it's harder for them to get in at the moment due to smarter OS policies, and often the vulnerabilities only apply under special circumstances (for example, you have to already have root access). And don't think that it's simply obscurity that helps: there are OSes with smaller user bases (FreeBSD, I think) that have more viruses written for them.
Second, I think few Mac users would ever argue that Macs were immune to viruses. But it's harder for them to get in at the moment due to smarter OS policies, and often the vulnerabilities only apply under special circumstances (for example, you have to already have root access). And don't think that it's simply obscurity that helps: there are OSes with smaller user bases (FreeBSD, I think) that have more viruses written for them.
MAC could also refer to Mandatory Access Control. I'm sure it could refer to a bunch of other things too, but those are the two computer related acronyms. 🙂
So what are these smarter OS policies you speak of?
Most (current) malware for Windows also only applies if you are running as root. The only difference is that way too many people run as admin on Windows. Maybe that's what you mean by smarter OS policies.
But even if everyone stops doing day to day stuff with an admin account, malware will adapt. If you think about it, the data that people care about the most (documents, financial information, photos, videos, etc) are stored under the user's portion of the filesystem. Which of course they have full rights to. Malware could easily adapt to continue to cause a large amount of trouble, even when not running in admin context.
So what are these smarter OS policies you speak of?
Most (current) malware for Windows also only applies if you are running as root. The only difference is that way too many people run as admin on Windows. Maybe that's what you mean by smarter OS policies.
But even if everyone stops doing day to day stuff with an admin account, malware will adapt. If you think about it, the data that people care about the most (documents, financial information, photos, videos, etc) are stored under the user's portion of the filesystem. Which of course they have full rights to. Malware could easily adapt to continue to cause a large amount of trouble, even when not running in admin context.
While you can download the updates from Apple's website, a much better method for most people is to use the "Software Update" utility (it's the second item in the Apple menu). You can even configure Software Update to check for updates on a regular basis.
Software Update has been around since at least Mac OS 9.
Anyone who thinks their OS is immune from virii/exploits/DoS is due for a surprise attack eventually, be it Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, VxWorks, QNX, etc.
The recent Mac OS X threats have helped, IMHO, as it has finally forced Apple to take security more seriously, *before* a major virus makes its rounds.
While I prefer to use Mac OS X on the desktop, IMHO I believe Mac OS X will always have more potential security holes than Windows, simply because of its sheer size, complexity, and use of open-source components. Yes, Apple ships Mac OS X configured very securely, but the potential still exists. Out of the box, every Mac comes with Apache, PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, Java, wish/tcl, samba, emacs... lots of unix/opensource software and tools. None of this is running by default, but it's still there. Expoloits and potential exploits are found in this software all the time. Apple has to release software updates just like any Linux or BSD distro has to. It doesn't help that the bulk of Mac OS X is available in open source form at http://developer.apple.com/opensource
IMHO, Apple has the potential to "stay secure", while Microsoft has the potential to "become completely secure", due to their closed source nature.
Nothinman
Elite Member
Smarter policies? sudo is nothing new, Apple has just relabled things that have been in use for a long time. All Apple is doing is training their users to put their password in whenever a dialog pops up. All a virus has to do is popup a dialog saying that their administrative password is required for some update or something and 99% of Mac users will blindly input it. If Apple would start using some form of MAC (as mentioned by stash) that would be a step forward, but I don't know if Mach has anything like that even in the works. That and for it to be really succcesful it would have to be a PITA to update the system.
http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comics/20060513.jpg
I think it's more of a "not our primary focus" sort of thing. It's not a huge deal in the user experience, so why bother devoting resources to it? Plus, Classic Mac OS didn't really have many security issues, so it's kind of a new thing for them.
Hopefully they take it more seriously. Unfortunately security seems to be that topic that evolves slowly in corporate settings. It took Microsoft a while to take it seriously, and it wasn't huge on Unix vendor lists for quite a while. Can Apple move fast enough to correct it? I hope so.
Griffinhart
Golden Member
Scuse me? I supported a mixed Win95, AS/400, and Up to Mac OS 7. Durring those years I never had to remove a virus from any of our windows PC's but Viruses on our much smaller Mac base were almost a daily occurance. Apple didn't clean up that act until OSX and by all accounts, they haven't learned the lesson yet since many security experts seem to think they are terrible at managing security risks.
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
mechBgon, you should have known that this would turn into a Mac security flame war, you troll😛
:laugh:
:laugh:
pcgeek11
Lifer
Well POTATO or Potato what ever you want to call it. I just wanted to bring it up that it seems here lately that the Mac security flaws are really starting to make the headlines...
As far as the poster that stated that they fight Windows XP crashes daily???? I cannot remember the last time I saw a Windows 2000 or XP crash that wasn't due to user stupidity or ignorance.
This is the root cause... User ignorance!
Training is the key to a good user experience and security. Regardless of the OS that is used.
I prefer Linux, but it will allow me to screw myself if I choose.
There is no such thing as smarter OS policies if the users are ignorant of the proper way to secure the system.
pcgeek
Commodus
Diamond Member
It's true that the user is ultimately responsible - however, part of the problem is that until XP SP2, Windows was setup such that the user was rarely aware of that responsibility. To this day, new user accounts in XP are created as password-free admin accounts - and admin in XP means you virtually never have to authenticate for anything. Apple might have borrowed security policies from FreeBSD, but it still remains that you must have a password in OS X, and that you'll be asked for it for some actions even if you have an admin-level account.
Vista should clean things up... but I remember Paul Thurrott describing how (at least as of a recent build) the OS is setup to harass you almost constantly, for things like moving files or when common apps try to access the Internet. Microsoft may ironically make the situation just as bad by irritating people enough to make them shut off all security warnings.
Vista should clean things up... but I remember Paul Thurrott describing how (at least as of a recent build) the OS is setup to harass you almost constantly, for things like moving files or when common apps try to access the Internet. Microsoft may ironically make the situation just as bad by irritating people enough to make them shut off all security warnings.
Paul's rantings were based on an older build (either 5308 or 5365, I can't remember). There will be significantly fewer prompts when beta2 is released, and people who install it should bug any prompts they feel are unnecessary or inappropriate.
Yes, there will be UAC prompts in Vista, but they should be fairly unobtrusive to the majority of users by RTM.
I use the software update utility to see what is available, but I try not to download any updates for a good month or two after they are released because Apple updates have a bad habit of breaking third party and Apple applications on my system. I made the mistake of downloading 10.4.6 last week, and it hosed my photobooth and front row installs to the point where I had to reinstall my OS in order to get these applications back online. Apple could learn a lesson from MS here and make their updates removeable.
Do you hang out at Mac forums much? I do, and I constantly see posts with quotes like, "There are absolutely no viruses or spyware for OS X." Also, at http://www.mac-forums.com, several of the fanboys and at least one of the moderators have a quote in their signature that says something like, "If you are dumb enough to download a virus, then you deserve it." I love my two Mac's, but the fanboy base has to collectively be the most obnoxious and self-righteous group of computer users.
BTW, this message was posted from my Intel Mac Mini.
If this was directed towards me, I didn't say daily. I just said today (yesterday now). I've seen Win2k and XP crashes for other things than just user stupidity or ignorance, including bad drivers and bad hardware. And since this is a new machine, it could be either. Although based on other people's experiences with these new machines, it appears to be a misconfiguration made by the IT dept (ie. not my fault 😉).
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