Hacker: Windows More Secure Than Mac OS X

[climber]

Apple didn’t completely missed the chance to tighten up security in Snow Leopard though, as the new QuickTime solves a lot of the issues that Mac OS X had before.

"Apple rewrote a bunch of QuickTime," said Miller, "which was really smart, since it's been the source of lots of bugs in the past."

One thing that Snow Leopard did adapt, which Windows has had since XP SP2, is DEP (data execution prevention). With DEP, buffer overflow attacks are much harder to execute.

Despite Miller's opinion that Windows is the more secure OS, the large install based of Microsoft-based systems make them a much more attractive target for hackers. Still, Miller would like to see security on all platforms.

missed should read miss

based should read base

Is grammar out the window at Tom's? The editorial staff is slacking off or something. I love Tom's I've been reading for eight years, but seriously folks.

 

[climber]

Apple didn’t completely missed the chance to tighten up security in Snow Leopard though, as the new QuickTime solves a lot of the issues that Mac OS X had before.

"Apple rewrote a bunch of QuickTime," said Miller, "which was really smart, since it's been the source of lots of bugs in the past."

One thing that Snow Leopard did adapt, which Windows has had since XP SP2, is DEP (data execution prevention). With DEP, buffer overflow attacks are much harder to execute.

Despite Miller's opinion that Windows is the more secure OS, the large install based of Microsoft-based systems make them a much more attractive target for hackers. Still, Miller would like to see security on all platforms.

missed should read miss

based should read base

Seriously where's the grammar checking with the editorial staff, I love Tom's, I have been reading for eight years every day, but seriously folks.

 

[climber]

Sorry for the double post... the update wasn't showing up...

 

[megamanx00]

I'm pretty sure that the programmers at Apple, just like their Mac user cronies, think their stuff is just invincible as it is. I'm sure once the Mac user base grows big enough to be a suitable target reality will enlighten them.

 

[ravewulf]

(Generally speaking) we already knew this. Unfortunately, the general public does not know. And the "Get a Mac" ads don't help in informing the public of the truth (that Windows is more secure, but tastier to hackers because of the large install base and users who don't know what they are doing).

 

[kyeana]

lol this was on anandtech ages ago

 

[andy_newton]

If Macs are that easy to hack, how come no one has ever successfully stolen the source code of Mac OS?

We know that a few years back someone had stolen the source code of Windows 2000.

-ND

 

[andy_newton]

Some of you will write that no real hacker is interested to steal the source code of Mac OS X because it is pure junk.

Now we all know for a fact that Apple only use Mac OS X based servers that are super easy to hack due to tons of security holes Apple refuse to patch.

Why don't any one of you smart PC users convince all of us (dumb Mac users) that Mac OS X is junk by posting the stolen/hacked Mac OS X source code here in toms forum.

 

[wildwell]

I wonder then why my friend, the IT director of a large corporation that spends most of his waking hours maintaining a complex Windows driven system, chooses Macintosh for both his laptop and tower.

 

[backbydemand]

[citation][nom]ChaosGS[/nom]Get an edit button on here, stupid toms. While your working on the edit button, get some non biased authors or some authors with a brain. Jane is the only decent author on here. Marcus has always been a biased retarded individual, serious stop writing topics, and just spell check its about all your good for.[/citation]
You wouldn't need an edit button if you wrote your post correctly first time. Check what you write before you hit submit. Most importantly, if you have a rant at other people about the edit and getting people to spell check, try to get your own grammar and punctuation correct.

Windows - FTW

Apple - FAIL

 

[backbydemand]

[citation][nom]Andy_Newton[/nom]Some of you will write that no real hacker is interested to steal the source code of Mac OS X because it is pure junk.[/citation]

I never heard a truer word spoken in jest.

[citation][nom]Andy_Newton[/nom]Why don't any one of you smart PC users convince all of us (dumb Mac users) that Mac OS X is junk by posting the stolen/hacked Mac OS X source code here in toms forum.[/citation]

Why bother, people only need to use OSX to figure that one out!

 

[g00ey]

To me, it doesn't matter how many security measures MS put on the Windows platform, it is still a piece of Swiss cheese in terms of security.

I also agree with those people who criticize the ASLR, for although it sounds cool it doesn't really provide much added security, really. Data is traceable and randomized memory allocation merely means a hacker traces the data to different locations for each run.

Windows sure has a lot of features to make it look secure but it still has a lot of security holes.

 

[backbydemand]

One thing I have noticed, plenty of people accusing Toms of bias reporting and Apple bashing...

But no one rushing to the defence of OSX saying that this story isn't true...

By the way, no one is saying that ASLR is a magic bullet, it just makes things harder for people attempting to breach security and they will get past it eventually, so to not include it is just making it easier for them. Is this laziness?

 

[TEAMSWITCHER]

Apple users do far less questionable behavior that makes their computers harder to corrupt in the first place. The difference is like living is an upscale gated community (the Mac) versus a trailer park with multiple entrances and registered sex offenders (Windows).

It's not security by obscurity, its security by association. Works in the real world too.

 

[coolbit]

But people on OSX are still waiting for that famous first virus that hits... they wait from 2001... what tens of millions of macs isnt enough?

 

[coolbit]

But people on OSX are still waiting for that famous first virus that hits... they wait from 2001... what tens of millions of macs isnt enough?

 

[christop]

Everything has a flaw.. Mac don't get all the malware and other things cause it's not the main OS used in the world.. Think about it if half the world used macs their would be virus and trojans and other bad things eating macs up.. We are mostly windows based...

 

[coolbit]

If you count in al the servers too, than its somewhere arround 60/40 in favor of unix/linux.

Most hackers would be happy to "infect" just a million of computers... so marketshare has no points here...
Worst virus till today infected somewhere arround 3% of (windows) computers... macs are arround 10% now.

 

[Houndsteeth]

If you don't think the pentagon is running Mac OS X, then go check out www.army.mil and I can assure you that it is being served on a Mac. No system is foolproof, but some systems are easier to harden than others. I have worked with hardened Linux, Unix and Mac OS X installs...and let me be the first to tell you that it took less time and effort to get each of these operating systems to this level than it did for me to do the same with Windows Server 2008.

Yes, hackers can pwn just about any system they can sit down in front of. Once you have given any experienced hacker physical access to a machine, chances of taking that system down is damn near 100%. Giving them a vanilla install just lets them exploit known access points, even if they don't have physical access to the machine, just access via the network. Any number of privilege escalation exploits can be used on every major OS distribution out there today.

What has hurt Apple in the past has been their use of open source standards in core functionality in their OS without including a rigorous patching cycle to allow fixes for known security issues to be pushed to the end user in a timely manner. A lot of these issues have been amended with Apple's more aggressive patching cycle. And there is still a lot more to do.

I am pleased to see that Microsoft's focus on resolving security issues over the past two years has yielded good results. With a lot of effort, you can just about tighten up Windows Server 2008 until it is just about as tight as a hardened Debian install. Hardened FreeBSD is still the toughest nut to crack.

BTW, I heard tell that the primary reason that the ASLR was not reconfigured for Snow Leopard was because the team that would have been tasked with that assignment was instead working on OpenCL and Grand Central Dispatch, and while an enhanced ASLR would have been bragging rights for OS X, I can see how the development team decided to push an new open standard that stands to benefit a broader market, as well as a much more efficient thread scheduler that stands to benefit just about every application written for Snow Leopard, and then follow up with an enhanced ASLR in a later patch.

 

[Regulas]

Allot of MS fanboys here today.
zelannii has it right about Unix based systems and security and is getting flamed for it by all the MS trolls.

@otacon72 If you think the CIA and super secure government systems run Windows keep drinking your Kool-Aid.

 

[zak_mckraken]

@demonhorde665:

oh wow , every one here knows how shitty my typos, but damn , when i catch a gramatical error , you know you need better editoral skills LOL that line should read:

Such a comment is weird coming from you!

@ChaosGS : Please, post a link to your own pertinent, un-biased and intelligent articles so we can all appreciate your good journalism.

 

[crom]

C'mon Marcus. Do you really expect people on this site to really be OS neutral? Most of the people that post here would lick the sweat off Ballmer's ballmer sack. They're like mac fanboys, swapping the black turtleneck for the blue button up shirt.

 

[backbydemand]

[citation][nom]TEAMSWITCHER[/nom]Apple users do far less questionable behavior that makes their computers harder to corrupt in the first place. The difference is like living is an upscale gated community (the Mac) versus a trailer park with multiple entrances and registered sex offenders (Windows).It's not security by obscurity, its security by association. Works in the real world too.[/citation]
Pardon my language, but that is a load of fucking bullshit.

What a way to compare all Windows users to sex offenders and trailer trash and say Mac users are just a higher class of person.

Absolute. Total. Utter. Fucking. Bullshit.

 

[rooseveltdon]

I knew the mac fan boys will come to the rescue. i personally like both systems i admire apple's design and OS but i do not agree with the way they price their products and i hate the attitude of those who buy them. Some people believe that by buying an expensive product somehow they are smarter or on a higher platform than others as we can see by the comments made by so many iTards on here,life is always like that, it has always been the prerogative of half wits and weak minds to point out that the wiser ones are not wise at all yet the half wits remain half wits and the wiser ones remain wise

 

[jellico]

What is particularly interesting is the amount of vitriol that comes from the Mac fanatics. Typically, those who prefer Windows tend to remark that Apple products are simply way over-priced, hence their lower market penetration. A few get rowdy, but mostly we're of the opinion that Apple is "nice, but over-priced." Conversely, the Apple fanboys get upset to the point of delirium. They tell us how much MS sucks and Windows suck, and we suck, and we're trailer-trash, and everybody who's anybody uses Mac (not true), and Windows security sucks (even though a Mac developer just stated unequivocally that Windows has better security than Mac).

Of course, I guess this should come as no surprise since that's exactly how Jobs markets his stuff. We're artists, we're elite, we're superior... yata, yata, yata. In point of fact, during the development of the Macintosh, Steve Jobs actually fostered and encouraged in-fighting and open hostility between the Mac development team and the Lisa development/support teams.