Interest in Attacking the Mac on the Rise (Friday Finds 01/23/2009)

It seemed laughable when Bill Gates first said that the Windows platform was more secure because it was under constant attack from hackers and therefore needed constant security updating (I’m paraphrasing of course).  Over time, however, “tech authorities” have legitimized Gates’ statement by saying that hackers spend more time attacking Windows because it’s the most popular computer operating system. Basically why bother trying to exploit the Macintosh when it accounts for less than 10% of the computer population?

Whether you agree or disagree with that logic makes no difference.  The Macintosh now represents over 10% of the computing population and is starting to feel the pains of its rising popularity.  You can see evidence of these pains in the recent articles shown below. Again, whether you agree that these articles document “real” Macintosh attacks makes no difference. The conclusion one can draw is simple: the Macintosh is gaining market share and therefore has become an area of interest for hackers. Will the hackers get very far on a platform that has touted itself as “more secure?” Only time will tell.  Personally, I’m betting on the hackers.

ArsTechnica: Newly-discovered Mac exploit to be Detailed at Black Hat

CNet News: Trojan found in Pirated Apple iWork software

CNet News: Apple issues critical QuickTime security update