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Online-Safety Resources for the Home

September '05

Mac security: What's really needed?

When I talked with CEO Susan Lutz last week about Eli, her new home-computer-security product, Mac security came up.

Susan's company is marketing a total solution - for any type of home Internet use (broadband, that is). So of course she's not going to say Mac users don't need her product. Instead, she said that Mac users have a false sense of security: "Malware [viruses, worms, Trojans, etc.] will run on anything."

I decided to ask her for details and check out what a Mac tech-support expert had to say about what the Mac users among us should know about security.

"I believe Mac users believe they are indeed completely secure, which of course is a false conception," Susan wrote in a follow-up email. "Yes, Macs are safer than PCs; however, Mac users are still susceptible to the same content on the Internet as Windows users," she added. Especially phishing sites - sites that persuade people to type in personal information and thus make themselves vulnerable to financial and identity theft and computer hijacking. Phishing depends a lot on what experts call "social engineering," the power of persuasion or trickery that dupes people into giving up information in sometimes clever ways. For example, you're told in an email that your bank account info has expired, "click here to update," and the site you're taken to is not at all your bank's site. Or in an IM to a child: "Check out this cool skater video clip" (sometimes the message looks like it's from a friend).

The other social-engineering danger kids can be susceptible to is downloading software that they think they want but that you really don't want on the family computer. "The extra layer Mac requires for downloading executables [software] is just the authentication," Susan wrote. "People still install and download software without knowing vulnerabilities [such as embedded viruses] exist." A lot of the people she's talking about are kids. Of course, there's no better way to deal with social engineering than family communication and hands-on parenting - helping your kids think (or ideally ask you) before they click or download.

I asked Matt Hicks, a Mac techie at MacDocs, one of Utah's oldest and biggest Mac retailers/service stores, what his experience has been with malware on Macs. "The security built in to Mac OS X (Panther and Tiger) is more sophisticated than what you have to buy from Norton [Internet Security], Matt said, adding that he's never had to remove a virus on an OS X Mac or fix a computer that had one.

That doesn't mean it can't happen: "Yeah, sooner or later it will because a lot of hackers use Linux and Unix [code in writing viruses], and the Mac OS is based on Unix. That makes it more stable and better but also open to the possibility of infection. We recommend that our customers buy anti-virus protection now for when it could happen. You just never know when it's going to start."

Macs now also come with their own firewalls (not on by default), Matt pointed out. "Not only is it there, but it makes you [your Mac] invisible to people out there on the Net," he said. Of course, if you or your kids use IM, you're "opening certain ports - no way to get around that" (Eli will block viruses coming in thereby), so IM makes you vulnerable even with a Mac.

"But I've never had a customer who's had someone break into their system," Matt told me. "A Mac user can download a PC virus but won't get infected by it - s/he can only pass it on to friends [using PCs via emails, IMs, etc.]. Both Matt and Susan said they've never seen spyware affect a Mac [Eli is working on an anti-spyware feature that will help PC users]. Matt added: "I'm sure that, as more and more people buy Macs, security risks could grow, but Norton and other security companies certainly will have products ready."

The bottom line: Security (for kids and components) is a must for any broadband home. There are lots of good products out there for all aspects, from filters to anti-phishing and -virus to detecting and blocking personal info from being sent out. What's great is the choices we actually have: the turnkey and updatable new Eli package (see last week's feature) and individual software products for filling in the blanks (e.g., I.M. Control and Blockster). To me, one great option for families now is to try a package like Eli for computer and network security, then add on a product or two for the desktop that covers one's own family configuration - kids' ages, online interests, and trust levels.

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