Security Experts Use Macs Not for Protection, But for the Experience

Whenever Macs get infected with malware, security analysts become extremely vocal, for it is a sensitive topic, and one that has always been open for debate: “are Macs more secure?” Security experts say “no”, although some may be reluctant to believe them, since they pose with ever-newer MacBook laptops in their hands at the conferences they attend.

Munir Kotadia writing for securecomputing.net says this was the case with the last AusCERT conference he attended, where, according to his description of the view, “Macs seemed to account for more than half the total notebook population.” Kotadia also claims to have met with McAfee's vice president of threat research, Dmitri Alperovitch. As a Mac user, Alperovitch denied it had anything to do with security, when asked about why he went with Mac.

"I use Mac because I think it is a great computer and not necessarily for any security that it may or may not offer. It is a great machine that has Unix-based capabilities that is very easy to use," he said, according to the SecureComputing report.

Symantec’s John Harrison was also present at the event, with his portable computing machine of choice - an Apple MacBook. Just like Alperovitch, the guy with Symantec Security Response denied choosing it for security reasons. He said it was simply his "travel machine". Kotadia claims Harrison's MacBook wasn't even running any security programs.

The security expert also stressed that the operating system becomes irrelevant in the face of social engineering threats. "You are installing something you thought was ok. If you have to type a password, whether it is Vista, Windows 7 or Mac OS," said Harrison. "When it is financially profitable for the bad guys to target it, they absolutely will," he concluded.

Not that it isn’t the billionth time we’ve heard this take on the matter, but it never hurts to keep reminding ourselves that Macs are still secure. However, they too are man-made computers running man-made software, which means they must surely have their weak spots.