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Unix OS may be safer but is not invincible

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Why you can trust SCMP
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I read that the invincible Macintosh operating system (Mac OS X) was hacked into in 30 minutes. Does this mean I must be more careful about using my Mac? Is the Mac now as vulnerable as Windows? I thought the Mac ran on Unix and was, therefore, safer?

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There will be stories published for a long time to come about computer vulnerabilities and although I would never advise anybody to ignore such reports, it is clear that you must be careful about what you read. The particular report you are talking about, 'rm-my-mac', was done in a careless manner. The challenge was to attempt to execute 'rm-rf', a Unix command that would have wiped out most of the data on the hard disk.

The Swedish enthusiast who put up the Mac mini site allowed anyone to have a local account on the machine. This, in effect, would be like testing your office for burglars but allowing anyone to get a key to the office next door. The villain may not have a key to your office but, because he does not need to break into the building, he is halfway there. Many experts have complained that this was hardly a fair test.

There is a new test that started a while ago and that appears to be better. A student at the University of Wisconsin has set up another Mac mini but he has done it the way a normal machine intended for use on the Web would be. He has not allowed anyone to have free access to the machine and all security updates have been installed. He seems to have taken at least minimum precautions.

All of this shows that security is a complex subject. There is a lot of nonsense written and many people enjoy a good horror story, true or not. Microsoft gets the brunt of the criticism but even with Microsoft, one must be careful about what one reads. I know of people who are extremely cautious about what they do and have years of experience in the security business and, despite all the terrible stories, they use Windows. This does not mean they think Microsoft knows what it is doing. But there are many ways to protect a Windows machine despite the company's security record.

It must be said, however, that none of this is easy. If you own a Mac, you may seem to be safer but do not be complacent. In some respects, Microsoft is easier to deal with: when you know you cannot trust something, you take special precautions.

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