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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Thursday, November 06, 2003

Apple taken to task (finally) for its lack of security
Everyone dumps on Microsoft for its security problems, but then Windows commands over 95 percent of the market, so the ramifications of Microsoft vulnerabilities are far great than they are for rivals like Linux and Mac OS X, which are only used by a tiny percentage of the population. However, a CNET news.com article finally takes Apple to task for its security problems. "Apple Computer needs to get more serious about handling security issues in Mac OS X," the article reads. "Apple ... announced to a security mailing list that its latest update to ... Panther ... will fix 13 issues in the operating system. Many of the issues were minor; a few were serious. The advisory Apple released did not mention whether the fixes for the software flaws would also be made available for two other versions--10.2 and 10.1--of the operating system. Many security experts ... worried whether Apple intended to release them at all. Multiple calls by reporters over the ensuing few days elicited no comment from Apple ... Three days later, Apple finally committed to making the fixes available for those operating systems. However, the company's public statement was extremely vague. The facts should have Mac OS X users worried: Apple doesn't have a security-policy or support-lifecycle statement on its Web site, unlike operating-system rivals such as Red Hat and Microsoft. In addition, Apple took three days to even respond to the issue, and the security fixes for previous versions of its operating system are still not available. While the delay to addressing security experts concerns could be blamed on a disconnect between Apple's public relations team and its security group, the other two issues indicate that the company still hasn't figured out how to manage its product security." Embarassing? Yep. Stupid? Oh yeah.

[ Posted at 1:30 PM | Permalink ]