Yup, for most people, the thing that most needs protecting is the data, not the apps. But the important thing to note is that if the malware can't install itse

Yup, for most people, the thing that most needs protecting is the data, not the apps. But the important thing to note is that if the malware can't install itself/access hardware (esp. the network interface), then your platform is not very interesting for malware writers. Of course, I should point out that the person you were replying to was exactly back-to-front. It's much easier to wrangle a privileges escalation than it is to get onto the system in the first place.