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I, for one, am pretty bored by the market share defense. There are millions of macs out there, owned by people who could drop a little coin on their hardware, a
by butterfi 16y ago
I, for one, am pretty bored by the market share defense. There are millions of macs out there, owned by people who could drop a little coin on their hardware, and that make them less of a target? There's not one virus writer out there who doesn't want the cred and the potential gain of a new audience of victims, many of whom are probably pretty complacent about security because they've never had to worry about it?
There aren't many mansions where I live, yet they seem to need the most security.
- spicyj 16y agoWhile you might liken the rarity and the glamour of owning a Mac to that of owning a mansion, a thief has much more to gain by targeting a large house that's more likely to be filled with expensive electronics and jewels. On the other hand, I doubt that Macs are significantly more likely to contain data that a hacker would be looking for.
- malkia 16y agoBad analogy. Software != hardware literally.
- robin_reala 16y agoHackers don’t want to sift your personal data for the most part (unless the sifting can be automated). It’s botnets that make them money.
- julio_the_squid 16y agoIt depends what you're up to, I suppose. If you were seeking to install keyloggers to record financial authentication details, why not target people whose choice of computer hardware indicates they have more money than average?
- tptacek 16y agoBecause Windows vs. Mac is an exceedingly weak financial signal, and because no matter what the signal is, having 20-30 accounts is better than having just 1 account?
- julio_the_squid 16y agoSure, but there are several other factors to take into consideration. 1> Very few Macs are running anti virus/spyware software, as the users generally believe their systems to be immune to malware 2> The malware authors are probably already targeting Windows, why not do Macs as well? The sites I work with are up to 25% Mac usage now. That is significant. 3> As Mac browsers have not been attacked as often and scrutinized as carefully by attackers, it appears Apple and other browser vendors have not taken as much care to harden the Mac browsers and OS. 4> Is having a Mac a weak financial signal? I wonder what data is there is out there about the affluence of the Mac-owning audience. Apple isn't targeting the low end of the market, that's for sure. So, in summary: it might be relatively easy, plus, why not.
- tptacek 16y agoYou ask: So, in summary: it might be relatively easy, plus, why not. I answer: Because for the same amount of effort you can make an order of magnitude more money.
- julio_the_squid 16y agoI assume malware authors would be targeting Mac OS in addition to, not instead of, Windows. The same logic works out for normal ('voluntary') software applications, doesn't it? Most companies decide to focus their efforts on producing software for Windows, based on the idea that the market is much larger. Companies nevertheless do decide to produce software for Macs, for various reasons.
- colah 16y agoBut its not just the size of the market... Windows machines are more likely to come into contact with another windows machine than macs are to come in contact with other macs. Thus a mac virus will spread much more slowly... This is why homogeneity is dangerous. The more diversity an ecosystem has, the less vulnerable it is to viri, whether we're talking about crops or computer networks.
- whatusername 16y agoSo then sites like this: cupidtino.com are really bad for Mac owners. Gotcha! :)
- tptacek 16y agoUntil we hit "peak oil" for Windows malware, there is no real incentive for a malware author to target anything but the most popular platform. I'm guessing you have very little insight into the motives of malware authors, and so I'm not going to address that part of your argument.