Apple vulnerabilities ‘double’
2pnet.net News:- Because home users are less likely to have established security measures in place, they’re being increasingly targeted by attackers for identity theft, fraud or other financially motivated crime,” says Symantec’s latest Net security threat report, quoted byGeekzone.
“The company says attackers are now using a variety of techniques to escape detection and prolong their presence on systems in order to gain more time to steal information, hijack the computer for marketing purposes, provide remote access or otherwise compromise confidential information for profit,” says the story.
Current Apple advertising, “Suggests that Macs aren’t vulnerable to the same Internet security problems PCs are,” says PC Magazine.
But quoting the Symantec ’study’ [read marketing release], “the number of vulnerabilities identified in Apple’s Safari browser in the first half of 2006 doubled over the prior six months – and it increased its window of exposure to Net-based exploits from zero days to five,” says the story, adding:
“Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser still has a longer window of exposure – the time between when code exploiting a vulnerability appears and when a fix is available – and a greater total number of security holes. But Apple ‘is headed in the opposite direction’ with respect to its browser’s vulnerability to Internet-based threats, says Dave Cole, director of Symantec’s Security Response team.
But overall, things have improved, says Symantec.
For the first time, it tracked the average time it takes operating system vendors to release a patch for a vulnerability and, “Sun had the longest patch release time with 89 days followed by HP with 53 days,” says Geekzone.
“Apple took an average of 37 days while Microsoft and Red Hat had the lowest average patch release times with 13 days.”
Also See:
Geekzone – Symantec Says Cyber Attacks Target Home Users for Financial Gain, September 26, 2006
PC Magazine – Study: Apple’s Exposure to Net Threats Rise, September 26, 2006
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