On Worms, Viruses, Spyware, AdWare and Such
At
the recent 9th
World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics several sessions were devoted to network and
computer security. At one of these sessions, Allen (2005), who is attempting
to develop Actuarial Tables for Insurance against computer attacks (worms,
viruses,
etc.) noted
the following:
1 - US Certs reported 137,000 attacks in 1998 – However, Incidents/attacks
are so common today that number counts are practically worthless
2 - The estimated average corporate loss from successful attacks
is $2 Million, not a large amount for Multi-billion dollar corporations like
Microsoft or
IBM, but a huge blow to a $10 Million per year corporation.
3 - Most corporations fail to report either attacks or successful
ones, because they are afraid that their customers might lose faith if they
knew that a
company had been successfully invaded or debilitated.
Why is Apple OS X less vulnerable to such attacks?
Some argue that it is because of a small market share, which is a factor, although today, Apple sells 66% of computers costing over $1,000. And, mac OS X is hackable, whereas, Windows Vista, at least to this point, is more difficult to hack. However, this doesn't mean that Vista is more secure, because Bill Gates (Mr. Homeland Security and Control) is behind all Windows development.
Anyway, the primary reasons Mac OS X is less vulnerable to worms, etc., are twofold:
1 – Unix systems are specifically designed for security, and particularly network security, and
2 – The Mac OS X kernal is integrated, thus, different components of the kernal do not communicate with each other. Worms and Viruses usually use paths based on communication among different components of the kernal, a problem that both Windows and Linux Systems Share. Now Linux systems are far more secure that Windows systems for three primary reasons: (1) No Internet Explorer [if you are using a Windows system, use Mozilla Firefox, not IE, (2) No Active X – this is an accident waiting to happen, and (3) no Outlook/Exchange – both of these mail programs are riddled with security holes – use Thunderbird.
So, given the fact that Windows is riddled with issues (it is actually far
more costly to run Windows-based systems) and that one must constantly
update security patches and worm/virus software, and that the average
breakthrough costs some $2 Million dollars, why would anyone choose to
continue using a Windows machine other than THOUGHTLESS BAD HABITS.
Of course, such is the stuff of humankind. But you can only lead a horse to water, you can't force them to drink.
References:
Allen, M.B. (2005) - Risk Analysis Model to predict Financial
Loss due to Cyber Attacks. University of Albany. Paper presented at the 9th World Multiconference
on Systemics, Cybernetics and Infomatics, Orlando, FL, May, 2005.