Reliability
and Security
Reliability
|
|
Secunia advisories
Mac OSX; Safari
2.x
Windows XP Pro ; Internet
Explorer 6.x
Firefox 1.x
Microsoft
admits Wi-Fi Security Hole (January 2006)
Why can't
Microsoft just patch everything? by George Ou (November 2005)
"If smaller software companies can patch all
of their bugs serious or minor, why can't Microsoft just patch all
of their vulnerabilities with their massive army of programmers and
massive budget?" (original emphasis)
Windows
bug awaits Microsoft fix (January 2006)
Users may have to wait another week for Microsoft to finish fixing
a serious bug in the Windows operating system.
Why Worms Shun Apple's OSX
Successful assaults by viruses and other malware on the Mac operating
system are rare as it has better security and attackers are less
keen
Hanging
Up On Dell?
Friday September 30 2005
"Complaints to the Better Business Bureau rose 23% in 2004 from the
year before, and they're up another 5% this year. And Dell's
customer-satisfaction rating fell 6.3%, to a score of 74, in
a survey by the University of Michigan. Dell's score puts it
right at the PC industry's average for the study, in which Apple
Computer Inc. led the way with an 81."
Dell
Falls, Apple Gains in Customer Satisfaction, Survey Says (August
2005) University of Michigan polls about 80,000 consumers annually
to ask how U.S. companies are faring in terms of customer service
Holden
hit by Windows worm - costs $6m. August 2005
Viruses
on the increase: report - but still none
for Macs (July 2005)
"The time it takes for a PC to get infected by an
internet worm is dropping, according to a security firm.Research
from security firm Sophos found that there is now a 50
percent chance of an unprotected, unpatched Windows PC being infected
by an internet worm within 12 minutes of being online. The
company also detected 7944 new viruses in the first six months
of this year, a 59 percent increase over the same period last year"
"In a remarkable switch in top rank within the Government computing environment
over the last twelve months, the most breached Operating System for online
systems has now become Windows
(57.74%) followed by Linux (31.76%) and then BSD and Mac OS X together (1.74%). This
is in stark contrast to the situation six months ago, when Microsoft Windows
was significantly lower in terms of
recorded government server breaches in comparison to Linux. The
number of recorded breaches against government online computers running
BSD or Mac OS X worldwide remains very low." (emphasis added)
The
Security Paradox by David Pogue
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/technology/circuits.html
" ... it took Microsoft six months to write the patch that fixed the Sasser
hole. Six months!? Man, it wouldn't have taken six months if Microsoft weren't
a monopoly, I'll wager.
Second, this may sound slightly insane, but should Microsoft really be fixing
these obscure holes at all? Think about it: the virus writers would never even
have known about the hole if Microsoft hadn't patched it! As the PC World article
puts it, "You have to wonder whether this cure is worse than the disease."
So what's the answer? (It's probably a bit much to suggest that corporations
switch over to, for example, the Macintosh, for which not a single virus or
worm has yet surfaced.) "
For
Mac security, communication is key
June 3, 2004, CNET News.com
" When it comes to security, Apple Computer's report card
reads like that of a gifted child: high marks for achievement, but needs to
communicate better with others."
Apple
accused of downplaying security holes
TechWorld May 2004
OS
X Trojan Horse Is a Nag
"Security experts on Friday slammed security
firm Intego for exaggerating the threat of what the company identified
as the first Trojan for Mac OS ... Technically, the threat isn't
a Trojan Horse by the standard definition: It isn't a working
piece of malicious code and can't easily be spread to other computers,
experts said. Instead, it is a demonstration of a possible threat."
Apple
responds to Trojan horse advisory
"...a proof-of-concept Trojan"
Intego Announces Protection against the First
Mac OS X Trojan Horse: MP3Concept |
|
eEye
Digital Security Upcoming Advisories
Mac
OS X ‘most secure servers’ Feb 20, 2004
|
Macs are more reliable than Windows based PCs.
Many surveys conducted over the years confirm this. Read below.
One thing that makes the Mac reliable is that MacOS X has automatic
file defragmentation.
Everytime an application opens a file for reading, HFS+ checks if the
file is fragmented
and is less than 20MB in size. If so, it copies the file's contents to
a continuous region on the disk and frees up the previously allocated
blocks. (The ordinary user doesn't have to do anything to make this happen)
This
process is sometimes known as "Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering."
see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668.
Windows
also has automatic defragmentation but you have to set it yourself.
See
also: Making
An Operating System Faster
(10 Things Apple Did To Make Mac OS X Faster) http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/apme/optimizations/#SIX
MacOS X is a UNIX OS and has three built-in maintenance tasks
that the UNIX process "cron" performs: daily, weekly, or monthly,
based on the schedule contained in a file called "crontab."
However, Apple scheduled these daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance
tasks to run early in the morning when most users' computers are turned
off. So if you use OSX you should leave your computer turned on. If
you are worried about the small amount of electricity you will be using
there are third party applications like MacJanitor, OnyX or Cronnix
(find them at www.versiontracker.com) which will schedule maintenance
tasks at more convenient times and send the task results to the user.
Apple
computers top reliability poll October 6, 2005
Macs
last longer (consumerreports.org - September 2005)
shows that Apple leads in reliability of 5 year old computers
PC Magazine
18th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey
Apple scores highest AGAIN,
August 2005
"Once again, Apple achieves scores that are far and
away the highest for all vendors in our survey, earning Readers'
Choices in both desktops and notebooks. For Apple, in both the desktop
and notebook sections of the survey, every single score is
significantly better than the industry average for Windows machines.
No exceptions" (original emphasis)
Study: Dell customer rating plunges; Apple leads pack
Customer service, not products, were source of dissatisfaction for Dell
Apple's Big Virus
Windows Server 2003 SP1 breaks 14 apps
Consumer Reports:
Mac Laptops Have Fewest Repairs (Feb 05)
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/40430.html
Australian Consumers' Association
finds Apple most reliable computer - AGAIN
99% brand loyalty - November
2004 (same as September 2002)
http://www.choice.com.au - membership fee required to view this report
"Computers from Apple ... were significantly more reliable than other computers
owned by respondents....Apple attracted the most loyalty with almost all
its customers (99%)
saying
they'd go back again"
'Shiny' Details of the Consumer Reports Ratings on Macs
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/38097.html
Apple's
Shine not limited to iPod (PDF)
http://www.theacsi.org/press_releases/0804q2.pdf
American Consumer Satisfaction Index, University
of Michigan Business School, Apple Computer led the rankings with a score
of 81. That's up 5% over last year's score, which in turn was 5% higher
than in 2002.
All
the Best by Gary Berline July 16, 2004
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1624254,00.asp
"Once again, Apple demonstrates that it knows how to please its audience.
In both desktops and notebooks, users gave the company significantly higher overall
ratings than the competition."
PC Magazine
17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey by Cade Metz July 14, 2004
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623706,00.asp
Apple scores highest in both laptops and desktops
"Dell, in particular, may want to re-examine its strategy of outsourcing
support. As usual in our survey, the company performs very well in desktops and
servers. Dell again tops the server ratings, and only Apple's overall
numbers are higher for desktops. But Dell's technical-support numbers have started
to drop. They're never better than average on this year's survey, and
with servers, they're actually worse than average.
Survey:
Dell customer satisfaction unsatisfactory by John G. Spooner CNET
News.com
http://news.com.com/Survey%3A+Dell+customer+satisfaction+unsatisfactory/2100-1003_3-5250704.html?part=rss&tag=5250704&subj=news.1003.5
PC maker Dell continued to have difficulty meeting all of its business
customers' expectations for service during the first quarter, according
to a survey.
Dell
hell, neverending (read Jeff Jarvis' blog of his experience with
Dell-June 2005) and here (note latter link contains coarse language)
PCs out sick
more than users By Munir Kotadia ZDNet (UK) June 25, 2004.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5247634.html
The average UK PC is rendered unusable for the equivalent
of around nine working days every year because the owner is cleaning up
spam or fighting viruses. This is two days a year more than the average
UK worker takes off as sick leave, according to Yahoo.
Unhinged
( scroll down the page)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/26/1085461801042.html
"The PowerBook and Final Cut Pro are like the carpenter's
bag of tools," Cookes says. "You can run an entire Dateline
program on your PowerBook and you can tuck everything under your arm and
go anywhere. Other people who use bigger equipment just look at what we
do and shake their heads in disbelief."
Growing pains hit
Dell's customer service but Apple led the survey for customer service.
http://news.com.com/2100-1042-5162141.html
APC Magazine Service and Reliability Survey November 2003
Apple "Excellent" for both desktops and laptops and
servers
Service
and Reliability: Desktops
Tech support is an essential part of desktop PC’s attractiveness,
according to the survey, and Apple can be considered this category’s
top dog.
Apple takes the cake
In terms of a winner, Apple’s “ Excellent” ratings
in pre-sales, performance and overall reliability make it the obvious
choice. Apple’s
result was impressive given it received the largest share of responses
in the desktops category — 17% of these concerned the manufacturer..."
APC's
2003 Service and Reliability Survey: Notebooks - Value for money
The 9% of survey responses received from Apple users were very upbeat
in their assessment. They rated Apple as “Excellent” in four
areas — pre-sales, performance, reliability, and overall.
Service
and Reliability: Servers
While generally receiving satisfactory verdicts, issues such as missing
parts on delivery and tech support came under scrutiny. Apple and Sun
met with the most positive response.
For such a mission-critical tool, there was no shortage of reader responses
finding fault with server providers. However, Apple and Sun had the best
showing of the assembled company, with an overall user rating of “Excellent”
PC Magazine
Service and Reliability Survey July 2003
Apple desktops, laptops and servers in top category.
Macs rates best in setup experience, never freezing and first year satisfaction.
"The stability of Linux and Mac OS may have also helped with the
rise of overall user satisfaction. These OSs, our readers say, crash even
less often than Windows XP".
Desktop
computers: Readers report (June 2003) CONSUMER REPORTS
.ORG
Apple rated most reliable and best for technical support
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detailv3.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=305449&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=
162693&bmUID=1052484936384
The consumer organization ConsumerAffairs.com has only two computer
manufacturers rated as "good
guys" : " companies who do well by providing great products
and good service". One was Hitachi, the other was Apple. November
2003 update: Apple removed from the "good guys" list!!
You
Call This Service? 30,000 readers speak out: PC support remains shaky,
and reliability is slipping. And the best-backed computer may not be a
PC. Brad Grimes From the December 2002 issue of PC World magazine
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,105854,00.asp
"Last year, PC World readers told us they were unhappy with technical
support. This year's survey shows little--if any--improvement. Dell, for
example, tumbled in service overall--especially in hold times. The other
big news: Apple rated higher than any other computer maker. ...Apple
topped every system maker in the desktop arena. The company's customers
said they received especially good service. "
Australian Consumers' Association
finds Apple most reliable computer - 99% brand loyalty - September
2002
http://www.choice.com.au - membership fee required to view this report
"Apple computers stood out for reliability ...."
Consumers
unhappy with PC support By Ian Fried Staff Writer, CNET News.com August
8, 2002.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-949018.html?tag=cd_mh 1
While consumers are paying less for their computers, a new survey shows
they are also increasingly unhappy with the level of customer support
they are getting with those PCs. ... The lone bright spot in the
survey was Apple Computer, which grabbed the top spot in the survey
with a score of 74 out of 100 and was the only company to earn higher
marks this year than it did last year.
Original
report from consumereports.org
Apple laptops
get A from PC Magazine in 15th Annual Service and Reliability Survey
(July 2002)
Which?
Magazine
http://www.which.net/media/pr/nov00/which/compsurv.html
Results out today (2.11.00) from the largest ever Which? computer survey,
consistently rate Apple, ... as top brands for reliability, user satisfaction
and speed of support helplines. ...Apple was the clear winner for laptops
- four out of five owners would definitely recommend them, way ahead of
the other brands in the survey.
Apple
Computer: Winner of ZDNet's Support Star Award Satisfaction
Apple Computer successfully makes its customers happy with courteous and
prompt technical support service. By Wendy Dittamore, October 16, 2000
http://www.zdnet.com/special/stories/main/0,11415,2635820,00.html
Stability
Troubles Surround Windows Server 2003 SP1
April 20, 2005 Updated: As was the case with Windows XP
Service Pack 2, the latest Windows Server update is breaking apps—Microsoft's
and third parties' alike.
Microsoft
still plagued by security issues - Gates admits Windows crashes
(NY Times, 24 July 2003)
"Microsoft has been plagued by a series of embarrassing
computer security flaws, including a new security hole in a program used
to play video and audio files that it made public on Wednesday. Mr. Gates
acknowledged today that the company's error reporting service indicated
that 5 percent of all Windows-based computers now crash more than twice
each day."
One of the greatest frustrations encountered by computer users is a system
crash or freeze. The Mac OS is less prone to freeze unexpectedly or crash
than its Windows counterpart, according to a study by Evans Research Associates.
This study showed that users who have used both Macintosh computers and
PCs find, by a margin of two to one, the Mac OS to be more stable than
Windows 95.12 . However it is easier
to fix an unstable Mac than an unstable PC (see below).
The Mac OS uses fewer extensions (which are a cause of computer instability)
compared to the number of DLLs used on Wintel PCs (DLLs perform a similar
role on the PC as extensions on the Mac13
- they enable printing and communication, for example). The Extensions
Manager on the Mac allows one to easily figure out what Extensions and
Control Panels belong to a particular program. By viewing as packages
(View > as Packages), you can quickly tell what Control Panel or Extension
belongs with what application. It is easy to turn them on and off to find
the troublesome one
Unlike Mac OS Extensions and Control Panels, Windows DLL files are often
installed in a plethora of places and can be extremely difficult to associate
with a specific application and thus more difficult to isolate and disable
if an application is playing up. Windows technicians refer to this as
"DLL hell"!
Year 2000.
All PCs operated under a date format that used two digits to represent
and store the year, so they would falsely claim that the year 2000 (or
"00") falls before the year 1999 (or "99"), which
might cause the machine to malfunction. This problem never affected the
Macintosh. Since its introduction, the Macintosh has had the ability to
correctly handle the year 2000 and beyond. Windows 95 had the YK2 problem
and Win 98 and NT still had minor problems even with service packs released
in 1998. Y2K compliance required large expenditure, some estimates in
the press putting it into the trillions of dollars worldwide. This added
to TCO (see above). This author is aware of a small business which spent
$A70,000 upgrading software and hardware (2 servers and 12 workstations)
in 1999 in preparation for the Y2K issue. This would have been enough
to reequip that business with all new Mac hardware and appropriate software.
Applications launch once on the Macintosh; with Windows 95/98/NT ,
some applications may launch multiple times. If you double-click an
application on your Macintosh and that application is already open, the
Finder will simply take you to the running application. Windows will often
launch additional instances of the application each time you open it,
which creates a crowded task bar and consumes memory. This negates many
of the memory management advantages that Windows might have had over the
Mac.
Security
The Macintosh provides easier security customisation features. Unlike
Windows , the Mac lets you easily match the user interface to each person's
age and level of computer experience. Menus let you quickly decide which
desktop each person should use. You can easily control each user's ability
to open, delete, copy, or rename specific files. You can also assign passwords
to each user and to individual files as well as access to printers and
networks. OS9 has voice/keyboard-activated keychain security.
Security is available on Windows XP Home restricting access to some parts
of the PC and to files, but it is not as easy to set up nor is it a user-specific.
XP Home will also not allow some programs to run properly (according to
the Help program in XP) and it is relatively insecure compared to MacOSX
.
Indeed security is becoming a more important issue given the burgeoning
of "always on" Internet connections like cable, satellite and
ADSL. Microsoft
has a whole section of its main website devoted to security. Visitors
will find there a plethora of information about how to fix [???] bugs
in Microsoft software (some are called "patches"), problems
that Microsoft knew were there when they shipped the software!!
More
cracks appear in Windows Never-ending patch cycle (January 2006)
Australian book retailer Angus and Robertson uses Firefox browser as
a result of concerns about security with Internet Explorer.
Windows
Security Flaw Is 'Severe' PCs Vulnerable to Spyware, Virus December
2005
"computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites ...Mac
and Linux computer users are not at risk with this attack..."
Another
Black Eye for Microsoft Patch Creation Process October 28, 2005
Five Architectural Flaws in Windows Solved In Mac OS X
Home PC
face security onslaught (August 2005)
Why Microsoft AntiSpyware Is Untrustworthy
Paul
Otellini, the new CEO of Intel Corp.recommends a Mac as a security
measure
"Mr. Otellini had a startling confession: He spends an
hour a weekend removing spyware from his daughter's computer. And when
further pressed about whether a mainstream computer user in search of
immediate safety from security woes ought to buy Apple Computer Inc.'s
Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC, he said, "If you want to fix it
tomorrow, maybe you should buy something else."
New TCP/IP flaw found in Windows
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=18883
Why Viruses Have Trouble Penetrating the Macintosh
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/42120.html
PowerPC
Gives Edge to Security ... (April 2005)
Study
says over 1m Windows PCs compromised SMH March 2005
Clarke
rips Microsoft over security (February 2005)
Former White House adviser alludes to its vulnerabilities: "Given
their record in the security area, I don't know why anybody would buy from
them," the former White House cybersecurity and counterterrorism adviser
said yesterday, when asked for his thoughts on Microsoft's forthcoming
line of security software."
Security firm claims 10 holes in XP SP2
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Breaking/Security-firm-claims-10-holes-in-XP-SP2/2004/11/12/1100227567560.html
Microsoft
Security Flaws Renew Calls For Alternative Web Browsers CRN 3 July
2004
http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=22103619
"A pair of virus attacks exploiting its vulnerabilities has led security
experts to recommend that Web surfers consider such alternatives as Mozilla
and Opera.
Continuing to use Internet Explorer is "like playing the lottery," said
Johannes B. Ullrich, chief technology officer of the nonprofit SANS Internet
Security Center."
Internet
Explorer Is Too Dangerous to Keep Using June 28, 2004 by Steven
J. Vaughan-Nichols
http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=130396,00.asp
MS
issues warning on Web attacks, pushes XP SP2 beta (June 25, 2004)
Microsoft acknowledges that IIS and holes in IE are being used in widespread
attacks
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/06/25/HNmspushesxpbeta_1.html
Broken Windows
by John Gruber 4 Jun 2004
http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_windows
Here’s a billion-dollar question: Why are Windows users besieged
by security exploits, but Mac users are not?
Why
Windows is a security nightmare (May 2004)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/21/1085120110704.html?from=storylhs
"A typical Windows system follows a simple lifecycle: it starts out
with a clean installation, which gradually deteriorates as programs are
installed, and uninstalled. Eventually, the registry accumulates so much
crud that the user is forced to do a clean install. When a user does a
clean install that user's system loses all the previously applied security
updates, and becomes a sitting duck for worms and other malware.
Things wouldn't be so bad if the user was able to update the new system
with security patches painlessly, but Windows Update makes it very hard
to do so.
The whole idea of Windows Update is a joke. Using an unreliable
and insecure network as the primary means of distributing security updates
is simply idiotic. This is like asking people to walk through a minefield
to get to a shelter."
Viruses thwart
security measures
Viruses are causing big business big problems. Half of
UK businesses were damaged by computer viruses in 2003, despite most of
them using anti-virus software.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3523489.stm
Mac
OS X ‘most secure servers’ Feb 20, 2004
Vuln exposes
soft underbelly of Mac OS X by John Leyden Nov 2003
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/34240.html
Richard
Formo's response to the DHCP issue:"Muckraking, the PC Way"
(16 December 2003)
also posted at The
Register
If You're Getting Tired Of
Fighting Viruses, Consider a New Mac Wall Street Journal by W. Mossberg
http://ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html 23
October 2003
New
Flaws Found In Windows Code Oct. 15, 2003
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/15/tech/main578269.shtml
Over
reliance on Microsoft - Threat to the global economy? October 2003
http://mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/frameset.php?pageid=http%3A//mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/311002.php
Microsoft:
a threat to global IT and job security? by John Lettice
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/33082.html
" ... monoculture itself is not of necessity bad for security, nor
in theory is Microsoft monoculture, provided Microsoft is prepared and
able to reform itself. If however it is not, then the Microsoft monoculture
is a clear and present danger to global IT security, and it must be reformed
via external means."
Government
issue Macs could help defend federal agencies from cyber attacks
By David Zeiler
Mac
Viruses By The Numbers - Word Macro: 553, Classic Mac: 26, OS X: Zero
http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/08/29.1.shtml
Backlash
- Readers contend Mac's OS X is much tougher to crack than Windows
http://www.sunspot.net/technology/custom/pluggedin/bal-mac082803,0,1353478.column?coll=bal-business-indepth
Microsoft
Windows: Insecure by Design
By Rob Pegoraro The Washington Post Sunday, August 24,
2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34978-2003Aug23.html
Stream
on - How Microsoft, on the Brink of Defeat, Could Still Win the Streaming
Video War
By Robert X. Cringely August 21, 2003
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030821.html
"... the rest seems as it was 12 years ago. Despite specific suggestions
from a big customer, Microsoft did almost nothing, and here we
are, wormier than ever."
Microsoft
defends security track record (July 2003)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2137005,00.html
XP
update pulled, causes more problems than it fixes
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/28/1053801426726.html
Warnings
about Linux virus risks rebuffed - Specialists say Windows is the real
security risk
28 March 2003 http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm?go=news.view&news=3192
"the Windows operating system is an intrinsically insecure system,
the whole design of which gives rise to security risks that other operating
systems like Linux or Mac easily avoid".
Critical
Windows flaw revealed Ted Bridis March 20, 2003
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6155836%255E15318,00.html
Experts:
Microsoft security gets an 'F' Saturday, February 1, 2003 CNN
" ...the philosophy of patching is fundamentally flawed
and leaves people vulnerable, Cooper said. For example, Microsoft didn't
follow its own advice as executives confirmed that an internal network
was hit by the worm. "Microsoft was completely hosed (from Slammer). It
took them two days to get out from under it," said Bruce Schneier, chief
technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a network monitoring
service provider. "It's as hypocritical as you can get."
"Schneier said he was thinking of switching from Windows to the
Macintosh platform because of all the security issues. "My wife has a
Mac and she doesn't worry about viruses, trojans, leaks..., " he said."
Apple Mac OS and
SCO Unix least vulnerable to attack (October 2002)
http://mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/311002.php
" Since Mac OS has a relatively low visibility, we naturally expect
the attacks on Mac OS to be occurring in lower numbers. However, ...,
attacks on Mac OS systems are less (0.05%) pro rata than what would be
expected by solely taking "the security by obscurity" issue into account.
Response: Microsoft
calls 'foul' on OS vulnerability data
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,75721,00.html
Security
Alert: UCSB bans Windows NT/2K ByÊ Brett Glass October 8, 2002
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,603430,00.asp
Lead
Windows developer bugged by security
http://archive.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/09/05/020905hnmssecure.xml
Microsoft
Security Holes Leave Macs Vulnerable
Software giant has released a patch for 'critical' flaws in Internet Explorer
and Office for the Mac.
Joris Evers, IDG News Service Wednesday, April 17, 2002
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,94703,00.asp
Editorial:
Microsoft Security: Too late? (PC Buyers guide) 14 February 2002
Microsoft
Posts Security Fix for IE
http://my.aol.com/news/news_story.psp?type=3&cat=0500&id=0202120842042070
The Associated Press Feb 12 2002 8:41AM SEATTLE (AP) -
Microsoft Corp. on Monday released a patch to correct six new security
vulnerabilities in its Internet Explorer browser, including one that could
let a hacker run any program on a victim's computer.
Latest
Windows Versions Vulnerable (New York Times - free registration
required)
(http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Microsoft-Hackers.html)
Fri, 21 Dec 2001
"Microsoft is urging customers to quickly install a patch to repair
serious flaws in the newest version of Windows, which was marketed as
the most secure ever. The problems allow hackers to steal or destroy a
user's data files across the Internet or implant rogue computer software.
A Microsoft official acknowledged that the risk to consumers was unprecedented
because the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP
operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything
except connect to the Internet."
Microsoft
admits IE security alert lapse 19th November 2001
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2099453,00.html
Last week Microsoft called a security firm 'irresponsible' for releasing
details of an IE security hole. Now it admits the firm gave it a week's
notice before going public Microsoft has admitted that it knew about a
security hole in Internet Explorer (IE) a full week before it accused
a security firm of acting irresponsibly for publicly disclosing details
of the exploit.
Survey
reveals one in nine IIS servers could be taken over by hackers http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/11/02/011102hnsurvey.xml
ONE IN NINE servers running Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Services)
has software installed on it that would allow attackers to take complete
control of the system, according to a new survey by Web server information
firm Netcraft.
Study:
Windows alternates should be considered for Web
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0109/27.web.php
Denial of
Service attacks against grc.com
http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm(June2001)
" For no good reason whatsoever, Microsoft has equipped Windows 2000
and XP with the ability FOR ANY APPLICATION to generate incredibly malicious
Internet traffic ..."
Which
OS is the most / least secure?
http://web.archive.org/web/20010815184909/http://www.securityfocus.com/frames/?content=/vdb/stats.html
No surprises here (last accessed 30.3.03)
Anti-Hacking
premiums 25% higher for Win NT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18324.html
by: John Leyden Posted: 17/04/2001.
An insurance policy against hacker-inflicted damage costs 25 per cent
more for companies using Windows NT. This is because "there are so many
security holes in Microsoft products", John Wurzler, of Wurzler underwriting
managers, told us today.
Microsoft
security fixes infected with FunLove virus
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18516.html
by: John Leyden Posted: 25/04/2001. A virus infection of security
fix files on Microsoft's partner and premier support Web sites has forced
the software giant to suspend certain downloads for more than a fortnight.
SECURITY HOLE THREATENS SCHOOLS USING MICROSOFT INTERNET
EXPLORER
" Software giant Microsoft Corp. is encouraging school districts
and other customers to install a patch for a newly discovered security
hole in several versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser.
The company warned its customers that IE has a flaw that could allow
attackers to run programs on another user's computer. The glitch reportedly
causes IE to open specially coded attachments in eMail messages automatically,
Microsoft said March 29."
For the complete
story (http://www.eschoolnews.org/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=2532)
Viruses.
Macintosh-hosted viruses are much less common than viruses specific to
Windows. There are about 70,000 PC viruses currently in existence,
with new ones appearing every day. In contrast, there are currently only
about two dozen known viruses specific to the Mac OS. Macs running emulation
software can however be subject to viruses, especially macro viruses directed
at the MS Office suite of products. Mac OS users who do not use Microsoft
products have no experience of viruses/ trojan horses and thus do not
have to spend time and money buying antivirus software and keeping definitions
updated. Their TCO is reduced. This author has been connected to the Internet
from home (with a Mac) since February 1997, for most of that time without
virus protection. He has not had a single virus or trojan in that
time (the exception was a worm which he was able to quickly disable)!
New
Viruses Hit 30-Month High June 2004 (http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=214013320)
Sophos says there were 959 new viruses released on the Internet last month,
the most since December 2001.
The BBC television program "Panorama" (broadcast on ABC TV,
Australia July 31, 2000) reported that the "Love Bug" virus
may have cost up to 8 billion pounds sterling in damage!! This virus did
not affect the users of the MacOS (although Windows applications on it
may have helped spread it). One wonders if business factors in these costs!?
While Windows and Microsoft Office remains in common use costly virus
attacks will continue. For the ordinary user there are alternatives to
MS Office (eg OpenOffice, Corel's WordPerfect, Lotus Smartsuite and Sun's
StarOffice).
More references...
SecureMac.com
http://www.securemac.com/about.php
Has 17 security advisories or updates for 2003
Mac security issues
How
Secure Is OS X?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=How_Secure_Is_OS_X_&story_id=23467
Security Flaws Reported
in Mac OS X (Filemaker advisor, Doc # 13244
30 October 2003 )
More
Security Problems in Apache on Mac OS X (.dS_store, .FBCIndex) Sept
2001
See this link: Hacker
to Apple: Watch those downloads
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-942265.html?tag=fd_top
but it was fixed
within a few days.
-
My trip to Windows hell...and back David Coursey, Executive Editor,
AnchorDesk (August 2003)
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2914454,00.html
- Mac
OS among least prone to attack (October 2002)
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/10/21/021021hnvulnerable.xml?s=IDGNS
- Security expert breaks
Windows By James Middleton [07-08-2002]
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1134192
Report identifies 'unfixable flaws' in operating system A UK security
researcher has released a white paper that claims to identify inherent
and unfixable flaws in the Windows operating system.
- Microsoft
Media Player "Security Patch" Changes EULA Big Time
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/29/1254230&mode=thread&tid=109
" ...if you want your machine secure, you also want microsoft
to have free reign on your PC."
- Old code creates
new cracks By Wayne Rash Special to ZDNet June 17, 2002
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-936627.html
To really rid Windows (and any other operating system,
for that matter) of security problems related to legacy code, teams
of programmers will have to scour every line of these ancient bits to
either bring them into compliance with today's security needs, or eliminate
them if their need has passed. About the only operating system that
avoids most of this issue is Apple's Mac OS X, which was written new
from the ground up.
- Trust
me, I'm From Microsoft What's Really Behind Microsoft's New Commitment
to Data Security By Robert X. Cringely (January 2002 - http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020117.html)
- Sorry,
Bill, but My PCs Work by Chris March
http://lowendpc.com/box/2001/1210.html
- Who
Needs Hackers? We've Got Microsoft! Richard Forno 20 December 2001:
Essay #2001-15 (http://www.infowarrior.org/articles/2001-15.html)
- Fireproof
Mac
http://www.it.mycareer.com.au/opinion/macman/2001/11/22/FFX8XBPEBUC.html
now (April 2003) at
http://web.archive.org/web/20011216223944/http://it.mycareer.com.au/opinion/macman/2001/11/22/FFX8XBPEBUC.html
- Security Focus
http://www.securityfocus.com/
- CERT - CERT/CC is
a center of Internet security expertise. It is located at the Software
Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center
operated by Carnegie Mellon University. (www.cert.org)
- NA - Network Associates
(www.nai.com)
http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes73.html
- Microsoft
security flaws run deep
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-317126-0.html
12 Evans Research
Associates, "Personal Computer Satisfaction," May 1996.
13 DLL: dynamic link
library
14 quoted on dot.com
television program, CNBC Asia, March 2000.
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