The end of the Charmer?

Is the charm that Apple’s OS-X has spun around the computer users coming to an end? Time and again experts have cautioned against the false belief in the security and invulnerability of OS-X but Mac users have always preferred to ignore that & have continued to toot their horn as to how their beloved operating system is more secure than probably Fort Knox!!

But that is no more the case as security holes started popping open on Mac OS. And now more vulnerabilities are coming to light, one of them allowing a malicious hacker to exploit a hole in Apple’s bluetooth software. Mac users have always leered at Windows users taunting how insecure the Windows operating system is, but I believe that Windows users are far better capable of handling the situation in the event of an attack or security threat than the eye candy lovers, simply because they have experience on their side and its not unknown that there’s no better teacher than experience. Similarly Microsoft is far better equipped to thwart any security risks since they too have the experience which old Apple lacks and which clearly showed when they fumbled around last year to patch up the hole in Safari browser which allowed a hacker to remotely upload & execute malicious files on a vulnerable Mac. So from experience, Windows users & Microsoft remain alert because they know a lot of people are out there with malicious intentions regarding them, but same can’t be said for the Mac community which is sleeping under the safety of a leaking roof!!

This clearly reflects in when a security researcher at Digital Munition, Kevin Finisterre, who created the Inqtana worm, which exploits an 8 month old vulnerability in Apple’s Bluetooth software, said:

Mac malware is not a myth. It is very real. My point with Inqtana was to say, ‘Hey! Wake up!’
Go buy yourself some anti-virus software, keep your Apple updates current and stop pretending that you are invincible, because you are not.

So far the Mac community has enjoyed security not because of their invulnerable operating system but because of obscurity. There were hardly any number of Mac users around to be worth a worm attack, when there are poor Windows users who total around 90% of the desktop users market. But the cover of being a minority is not something that you can enjoy for long, so it seems in the case of Mac. Its users are growing gradually and that’s bringing them closer to the point where someone will eventually consider unleashing ‘attaque de masse’!!

So the experts are advising the Mac users to come out of their crumbling caves of complacency & be on alert. But there are still some foolhardy stubborn people who say that the three attacks so far demonstrated on security holes are just proof of concept and not actual things, so there’s nothing to be concerned about!! This just sums up the attitude of most Mac users at large and I really think that an attack & most damaging one on that is something that they need to come out of their slumber!!

Source: c|net