Macs Are Virus Targets, Some Experts Warn

Independent security consultant Rodney Thayer works at his desk in South San Francisco, Tuesday, April 18, 2006. Experts say the Apple operating system, long a haven of safety, is a growing security risk. On the left console Thayer is running a simulated attack test as the left console is tracking the network traffic from the attack. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Paul Sakuma - AP)

Bud Tribble, Apple's senior vice president of software technology, disagreed.

"All the things we've been doing to make Mac OS X secure continue to be relevant on Intel," he said.

Mac OS X, he said, is designed to be Internet safe out of the box, without the need for firewalls or additional security software. He praised Mac OS X for making it easy for users to automatically install security patches.

He noted that the operating system was derived from FreeBSD, open source software that was built from the ground up to provide security for computers networked together. Since its origins in the early 1990s, the Unix-based FreeBSD has continually been battle-tested by college students and computer security specialists.

"The bottom line is we still feel more comfortable using a Mac than a (Windows) PC," said Alan Paller, director of research for SANS.

But as Daines can attest, there are no guarantees.

"We're all sort of waiting with bated breath to see if any problem will happen and the jury is still out," said Thayer, the independent security consultant. "I don't think you'll find a consensus."

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