BBC questions Mac security, raises ire of Mac fans

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:39

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The recent ‘Month of Apple Bugs’ (MOAB) from researcher Kevin Finisterre may have discovered lots of bugs, and while no massive security problems or virus attacks occurred, Finisterre says Apple is taking notice – and positive action.

In an article titled “Mac users ‘still lax on security’ ”, the BBC talks to researcher Kevin Finisterre on the ‘Month of Apple Bugs’ campaign he and fellow researchers undertook in January, with the result that Apple ended up patching some of the bugs Finisterre discovered.

While none of the security vulnerabilities were used to launch a massive attack against Apple computers around the globe, as has happened several times in the past few years against Windows based PCs, Finisterre says his efforts have caught the attention of Apple with a dialogue opened up where none existed earlier.

Finisterre says he speaks to Apple engineers on a regular basis, showing that positively working with companies and using the far-reaching power of the Internet to make issues known when action isn’t happening fast enough was successful in getting Apple to the table – something we can all be thankful for, given Apple’s general reputation of keeping to itself in between product launches.

The BBC quoted Finisterre as saying that "They [Apple] have certainly given some extra efforts on the backend to open up lines of communication, at least with me. That sort of progress is what I am after rather than a particular set of bugs. I chat quite regularly with some of the security engineers.”

Finisterre’s work centered more around security vulnerabilities in programs, rather than actual virus attacks, and have helped to raise awareness in the Apple community that while the Mac remains a solidly reliable and generally trouble-free platform, underneath the shiny exterior is hardware and software that, given enough time, could be compromised – and that action needs to be taken by Apple, third party software developers and others to ensure that the Mac continues keeping its pristine reputation intact.

Since the MOAB experiment ended, with the mission Finisterre embarked on effectively accomplished, the MOAB website will be shut down. The BBC quotes Finisterre as saying that this is because “Real life comes in to play; the cost of living, the fact that we did it all for free. If someone wanted to invest some of their own resources I would be more than willing to continue.”