Oh how Windows users suffer

While reading the usual news items at MSNBC, I saw a column by Michael Rogers, who calls himself “The Practical Futurist”. The article was entitled “Apple’s Big Security Hole”.

He was almost giddy in his pronouncement that Apple had security problems with OS/X. I quote, “I’m noting this security flaw for all the Mac users who love to beat up Microsoft for security lapses, and proudly cite the relative lack of worms and viruses for the Mac environment. The fact is that everyone is still learning about security in the new cyberworld, and everyone is still making mistakes. Microsoft’s errors are more often exploited, because few hackers want to waste their time writing for the comparatively small Mac universe. (Willie Sutton, after all, robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.”)” end quote.

And so the tears of happiness from long-suffering MS users begins. Finally, FINALLY, Apple has a security issue. Except that’s kind of the end of the story. How many Mac computers were affected by this? How many had data deleted or their computers hacked because of this? My guess would be somewhere in the neighborhood of…zero. Apple is pro-active on these issues, where MS is reactive. I guess they don’t have much of a choice when new exploits are found on almost a daily basis. Make sure you buy all those virus detectors and spyware finders. How many do I have to worry about on my Mac? Less then Windows users.

To be honest, I really don’t care what the overall reason is. Is it because there are less Macs? This is debatable. With all the crowing that Mac users have done since the release of OS/X, you might think the hackers would be MORE not less interested. If only to wipe the smug smiles off Mac users. Is it because the perception of the hackers is that since the Mac OS is unix based (many hackers use *nix* exclusively according to many), they don’t want to poop in their own backyard? Is it because the Mac OS has its ports closed by default (as opposed to Windows being open)? Is it because a password must be entered before any changes can be made? Don’t know and don’t care. All I know is that as a Mac user, I rarely have to give it a thought. Until MS can say the same, I’ll just keep on keeping on.