My Mac's Still Secure

Despite what CNN might have you believe, with its "Viruses catch up to the Mac" article, my Macintosh is still very secure, thank you very much. While I feel for the victim in the article, I instruct all my clients never to click on unconfirmed links (especially those that promise any type of "unreleased" updates, financial account confirmation and access to lost Nigerian funds, among other things).

Macs are much more secure than Windows. Users, unfortunately, are the weakest link, and that's the point of this post: I wish CNN would do more to educate users instead of casting unfounded suspicions on Mac systems or OS X.

Certainly countless viruses target both (Windows and Mac) platforms. But the fact remains that Mac infection typically requires the user to make bad decisions (such as clicking on executable attachments sent by strangers, installing programs of unknown origin, etc.). Due to vulnerabilities in the underlying code that powers the Windows subsystem, however, even sophisticated Windows users can easily become victims without having made bad decisions. That's why update Tuesdays are so important to Windows administrators, after all.

Neither platform is perfect. With regular administration and support, Windows is a powerful OS. But so is Mac OS X, and it doesn't require quite the same upkeep. I just wish CNN would report on that.