People I know who are Apple users are quick to tell me how much better the Mac platform is, from a security standpoint. I try to point out that this is more a case of security by obscurity than any real inherent security. What I mean is this – the Windows environment is a much larger target; there are twenty Windows machines for every Mac. If you are going to writer code to attack and control computers, why wouldn’t you write for the operating system that is the most prevalent?
Well, Apple has had its gains, not just with the iPhone and iPad, but in the Mac OSX platform of desktop and laptop PCs. And that success seems to be attracting the bad guys to the platform.
Security vendor Sophos has released an article that describes the exploit, and is complete with screen shots. While it appears that this exploit is under development still – in beta, if you will – it does foreshadow the need for security software on the Mac platform. If you are a Mac user, the original article is worth a read.
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com