[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       inet-access
Subject:    Re: [OT] OS security design (was: elder parent-proofing a computer)
From:       Kris Kirby <kris () catonic ! us>
Date:       2012-06-25 18:32:56
Message-ID: alpine.BSF.2.00.1206251331500.5591 () spectre ! catonic ! us
[Download RAW message or body]

On Sun, 24 Jun 2012, Ben Scott wrote:
>   This is really rather off-topic, but as a professional sysadmin, I 
> feel security is a critical topic worth addressing.

> On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 6:20 PM, JC Dill <jcdill.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Just wait until the Mac gets seriously targeted....
> >
> > Oh please, not this FUD.  Not on inet-access.  Please!  Can't I count
> > on THIS group to have more sense than this?
> >
> > The Mac OS is inherently more secure ...
> 
>   The security design of the OS has little to nothing to do with
> almost all of the security attacks being perpetrated today.  In
> particular, it doesn't matter what the OS does if the user tells it to
> allow the attack.  Further, keeping the OS secured is only a means to
> an end.  If the attacks can operate entirely under the privileges of
> the user, it doesn't really matter what the OS is.
> 
>   Now that the Mac has really started to succeed again, attackers are
> starting to attack that platform again.  Mac malware in the wild was
> basically zero even as recently as a year ago.  Now there are at least
> a few active threats.  That's the price of success -- Apple is now a
> target worth looking at.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/258183/apple_quietly_pulls_claims_of_virus_immunity.html#tk.rss_news

I, too, am a UN*X admin. And I am not an alarmist by nature. This 
Koolaid has a strange aftertaste.

--
Kris Kirby, KE4AHR
Disinformation Analyst
-- 
Eat sushi frequently. - Avi
inet@inet-access.net is the human contact address.
list@inet-access.net is the list posting address.
See below URL for subscribe/unsubscribe and list options:
http://inet-access.net/mailman/listinfo/list
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]