Hacker Claims Microsoft More Secure Than Apple And Adobe

For as long as the internet has been around, Microsoft software has been known to attract all sorts of malware, from trojans to backdoor exploits. Microsoft, according to some has flipped the table around.

A seasoned hacker is now claiming that Microsoft now has better security in place than both Apple and Adobe, a bold statement given that Microsoft has generally lagged behind both in the minds of the world’s computer users.

The hacker, a Marc Maiffret had this to say: “look at Microsoft today [and] they do more to secure their software than anyone. They’re the model for how to do it.” Microsoft a model for security? Hardly what any of us would have guessed. What has changed?

After being buffeted in the market by both general consumer opinion, and Apple attack ads Microsoft took security to task. Not only have Vista, and even more so Windows 7 been vast security improvement over previous versions of Windows, but also with the release of free antivirus software Microsoft Security Essentials the company has been quite proactive.

By providing a more stable, safe platform and free added protection, Microsoft has made security a non-issue for most of the PC using community that makes even a small effort to stay safe. But what about those Macs? Aren’t they a paragon of safety?

Not so much, according to Maiffret, Apple has only begun to take security seriously in the last half-year. Even more, “if they were taking it seriously, they wouldn’t claim to be more secure than Microsoft because they are very much not. And the Apple community is pretty ignorant to the risks that are out there as it relates to Apple.”

Does Mariffret have proof of this? He claims so, “anytime there’s been a hacking contest, within a few hours someone’s found a new Apple vulnerability.” In other words, it’s not hard to crack Apple, even with its solid Unix foundation.

The age-old question is, as we have heard similar stories through time, why is no one hacking Macs, if it is not too difficult? Market share, “the reason we don’t see more attacks out there compared to Microsoft is because their market share isn’t near what Microsoft’s is.”

Whether you believe him or not, if sales of Macs continue to rise as they have been, sooner or later  people are going to begin picking on the OS more than they have been. What do you think?

Quotes, story via PCWorld, Cnet.