Apple Calls in Kaspersky Labs for Mac OS X Security Help
Whether Mac OS X was ever truly secure or just didn’t receive the same attention from cybercriminals as Windows operating systems, Apple was once a bastion of malware invulnerability. Those days are long gone, as recently somewhere between half a million and 600,000 Macs were found to be infected with the Flashback Trojan and security firms have found that even uninfected Macs carry and pass on Windows viruses to other users.
It appears as though Apple has stopped pretending that malware isn’t a problem for Mac OS X; according to Computing, the company has called in security experts Kaspersky Labs to help find and analyze the operating system’s vulnerabilities.
The much-needed yet tardy Java update
Kaspersky apparently doesn’t think Apple has taken security seriously enough and points to the Flashback debacle as evidence. Computing quoted Kaspersky CTO Nikolai Grebennikov (pictured, above right) as saying, “"Apple blocked Oracle from updating Java on Mac OS, and they perform all the udpates themselves. They only released the patch a few weeks ago – two or three months after the Oracle patch. That's far too long.”
Here’s hoping for everyone’s sake that Kaspersky does a thorough job digging through Mac OS X and that Apple does an even better job patching (or overhauling, as the case may be) its flagship operating system.
At least iOS is safe, right? Actually, according to Grebennikov, iOS will probably be breached sometime in the next year or so. Though there is no known malware targeted specifically at iOS, Grebennikov believes it’s coming.
It appears as though Apple has stopped pretending that malware isn’t a problem for Mac OS X; according to Computing, the company has called in security experts Kaspersky Labs to help find and analyze the operating system’s vulnerabilities.
The much-needed yet tardy Java update
Kaspersky apparently doesn’t think Apple has taken security seriously enough and points to the Flashback debacle as evidence. Computing quoted Kaspersky CTO Nikolai Grebennikov (pictured, above right) as saying, “"Apple blocked Oracle from updating Java on Mac OS, and they perform all the udpates themselves. They only released the patch a few weeks ago – two or three months after the Oracle patch. That's far too long.”
Here’s hoping for everyone’s sake that Kaspersky does a thorough job digging through Mac OS X and that Apple does an even better job patching (or overhauling, as the case may be) its flagship operating system.
At least iOS is safe, right? Actually, according to Grebennikov, iOS will probably be breached sometime in the next year or so. Though there is no known malware targeted specifically at iOS, Grebennikov believes it’s coming.
