Mac OS X: Debunking the ‘security through obscurity’ myth
It’s amazing how much misinformation people will pride themselves on disseminating. Count among them one James Derk, writing for the Scripps Howard News Service, who perpetuates the myth of the Mac’s ‘security through obscurity’: “The reason there are fewer viruses written for the Apple platform is the same reason there are fewer viruses written for the Amiga: there are fewer Apples. It is less fun to write viruses when (relatively) no one gets infected.”
Mac Daily News takes Mr. Derk to task and counters with a pointer to this article on debunking the myth. Because the BSD subsystem that forms the foundation of OS X has been under scrutiny for over 30 years, a large percentage of its potential security holes have long been closed. And don’t even get me started on the bug-riddled, Internet Explorer-based Windows version of the “Finder.” ;)
Any security experts out there want to comment on other ways OS X offers more security over ye olde Windows boxen?
