Back in the good old days, the die-hard Apple fans — embarrassingly outnumbered — would often attempt to debunk the many myths surrounding the platform.
They targeted such notions as “Macs aren’t as fast as PCs,” “Mac files aren’t compatible” and “Macs offer less software.”
Like most of the world, I’ve stopped worrying about such things. The arguments just aren’t relevant anymore. Even the software issue, which still exists by absolute numbers, isn’t worth discussing. Whatever the number of Mac apps may be, a Mac owner has a huge amount of titles to choose from. If you lust that badly after a particular Windows app, you can simply configure your Mac to run it.
But, nosing around on the Apple sites and discussion groups recently (this is what I do for a good time), I was surprised to see one myth still alive and well. It’s the idea that Macs are not more secure than PCs — there are simply so few Macs on earth, they’re not a juicy enough target for the evildoers. This is the famous theory of “security by obscurity.”
This is also pure crap.
Macs were once not only a tiny minority of the world’s computers, they were a fading minority. The platform didn’t generate nearly the buzz it does today. Nor was its every move reported by legions of journalists and bloggers.
If I were a hacker 15 years ago, I’d buy the obscurity argument in a nanosecond. What’s the fun of being a big fish in an invisible puddle.
However, this isn’t then. Apple is now the world’s most successful — and most valuable — technology company. Macs get far more attention than their numbers suggest. They’re all over movies and TV shows. They’re the defacto standard in graphics and design. Although the Mac market share remains far smaller than that of PCs, Mac users number in the tens of millions. And then there’s mobile technology, where Apple either leads in market share or owns a giant chunk of the category. Regardless of market share, Apple leads by far in share of mind. The world’s obsession with Apple only grows bigger every day.
Add to that the fact that Apple has spent tens of millions of dollars proclaiming to the world that Macs don’t get viruses. That was the claim in one of the earliest “Mac vs. PC” commercials (the one where PC couldn’t stop sneezing). It was an open challenge to the world’s hackers. It was Apple’s public “bring it on.”
If you were a hacker seeking glory these days, the Mac has to be one super-tempting target. Being the first person on earth to cause havoc in the Mac world would mean instant enshrinement in the Hackers Hall of Fame. It’s just horribly naive to suggest that hackers have no motivation to attack the Mac. In fact, why would you create malware for PCs, where viruses are a dime a dozen, when you can have the fame and glory that would come with bringing those arrogant Mac users to their knees? Hell, I’m tempted to go try it myself.
Hacker conventions have been held with the express goal of breaking into the Mac. They usually end with a “concept virus,” or the announcement of some newly discovered vulnerability in Mac OS X. Yet somehow none of that ever causes a blip in the Mac world.
Given the total lack of widespread Mac viruses over all these years vs. the hundreds of thousands that exist in PCs, it takes some kind of twisted logic to maintain that Mac OS X is as vulnerable as Windows.
Interestingly, there’s a newer, more absurd myth being born to take the place of security by obscurity. It’s the idea that Macs are actually more vulnerable than PCs. This belief is put out there by security companies out to sell their own software, or security experts eager to prove their unconventional smarts. They have all the reports to prove Mac’s many documented vulnerabilities. The only thing missing are the viruses.
This is not to say Macs are invincible. Clearly any computer can be compromised. Everyone needs to exercise some common sense. But the simple fact is, it’s pure insanity to run a PC without antivirus software and commonplace to run a Mac without it. I haven’t run antivirus software in my Macs since Mac OS X was released, over 10 years ago. I don’t know anyone who has.
The “Mac is vulnerable” crowd does exist and will always exist. They’ll continue to make their claims until one day they can say they were right.
I will only note that there is also a Flat Earth Society waiting patiently to be proven right. We’ll see who gets there first.
Tags: apple, computer virus, ken segall, mac pc security, mac pc virus, mac security, mac virus, pc security, pc virus
