One of the famous replies in the which-is-a-better-door-stopper argument - PC or Mac, is the better security claim. Despite it being the other side of the coin of the much smaller user-base and software-base, it has been true for a very long time that Apple's Macintosh Eco-system was a very safe street. So safe, actually, that many Apple users have grown to believe in the myth of a safe heaven, and did not fully realize the implications of Apple's huge success of recent years in the smart gadgets market.
But times, as the late Steve Jobs quoted so eluquently, are changing.
What was the knowledge of professionals only a year ago, is now widespread street wisdom. This is no longer a general virus/malware that attacks Macs together with PCs like the legenday DNS changer, but software aimed specifically at Apple's Eco-system.
Flashback, a sophisticated malware using a hole in Apple's maintained Java, was especially developed for Apple's OS/X, and despite a rather lame beginning, it is evolving quite rapidly, while demonstrating the advantages of a villain operating in a community that has known no evil for a long time.
Like the recent famous evil in Apple's quite lake, There is already a reliable fighting method against the Flashback malware.
But the real change is undeniable. Apple's products are now a part of the great battlefield among "evil" hackers and the protective software packages. Innocense, once gone, cannot be regained. The only question is when is this reality going to become a part of iOS users' lives. The fact that Apple's App Store is not invulnerable is not news. It is only a question of time before the new reality of OS/X users will become the reality of iOS users. While PC users have learned to live in a confusing and dangerous digital world more or less from the beginning of the PC, Apple's users have been promised a different deal. This new reality is a great opportunity for many security companies, but it is also a milestone for Apple's Eco-system. What will users do when they are presented with the realization that close architectures do not deliver on the promise of high-end security ?
But times, as the late Steve Jobs quoted so eluquently, are changing.
What was the knowledge of professionals only a year ago, is now widespread street wisdom. This is no longer a general virus/malware that attacks Macs together with PCs like the legenday DNS changer, but software aimed specifically at Apple's Eco-system.
Flashback, a sophisticated malware using a hole in Apple's maintained Java, was especially developed for Apple's OS/X, and despite a rather lame beginning, it is evolving quite rapidly, while demonstrating the advantages of a villain operating in a community that has known no evil for a long time.
Like the recent famous evil in Apple's quite lake, There is already a reliable fighting method against the Flashback malware.
But the real change is undeniable. Apple's products are now a part of the great battlefield among "evil" hackers and the protective software packages. Innocense, once gone, cannot be regained. The only question is when is this reality going to become a part of iOS users' lives. The fact that Apple's App Store is not invulnerable is not news. It is only a question of time before the new reality of OS/X users will become the reality of iOS users. While PC users have learned to live in a confusing and dangerous digital world more or less from the beginning of the PC, Apple's users have been promised a different deal. This new reality is a great opportunity for many security companies, but it is also a milestone for Apple's Eco-system. What will users do when they are presented with the realization that close architectures do not deliver on the promise of high-end security ?
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