Apple Computer on Thursday patched more than 40 vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system, associated applications, and the Cupertino, Calif. company’s Mac and Windows versions of the QuickTime multimedia player.The Mac OS X upgrade, dubbed Security Update 2006-003, contains 31 fixes and ups the operating system to version 10.4.6. It was the third collective update of the OS since the first of the year.
The extra security features in Microsoft’s upcoming Vista operating system could negatively affect smaller security firms, according to a new report.
The report, from the Yankee Group, suggests that as Microsoft users get a welcome security boost when the new Vista operating system is finally available, aftermarkets for anti-spyware and desktop firewall applications will be hit dramatically.
NEW YORK — Microsoft has every intention of working with networking giant Cisco on network access control protocols in its next version of Windows, the head of Microsoft’s security technology unit said at an event here Monday.
Windows Vista’s new security features will so annoy users that Microsoft won’t meet its goal of 400 million copies in two years, a research analyst said Monday.
Although Microsoft touts Vista as its most secure operating system ever and is relying on security as a prime marketing message to corporations, the Yankee Group’s Andrew Jaquith sees it as somewhat of an albatross.
Anti-virus software firm McAfee has identified Mac OS X as a growing target for malware attacks.
According to McAfee Avert Labs, Mac platform vulnerabilities increased by 228 per cent in the past three years alone, from 45 found in 2003 to 143 in 2005. McAfee didn’t say how many of these bugs were critical, preferring to let the numbers speak for themselves.
Recently there has been a growth industry in pundits whining about the security of the Apple Mac OS X operating system. To read some of the coverage, you would think someone deciding to use OS X instead of Windows would have to be dumber than a fence post. Methinks the security worries are rather misplaced and may be the result of hyperventilating, nontechnical reporters and some gloating on the part of Windows users.
Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it plans to turn off half the firewall in Windows Vista when the new operating system ships later this year because it doesn’t think most users need all the firewall’s functionality or can handle its management.
Although Vista’s firewall will ship with both in- and outbound filtering capabilities, the latter will be disabled by default. Corporate users, however, can turn on outbound if they wish.
Anti-virus firms at Infosec say they expect Vista and IE7 to change nothing for the industry. Microsoft used its presence at the show to laud the security features they’ve been busy building in the the upcoming software.
In particular, Microsoft was eager to talk about how Vista will finally jettison the need to run Windows as an administrator most of the time.
Secunia said there are potential vulnerabilities in the Mac OS X operating system, first noticed by Tom Ferris.
The firm described the holes as ‘highly critical’, meaning that systems could be compromised if crooks dive in. Secunia said the potential holes are in version 10.4.6, but other versions might be
affected too.
As an aside, the updated security details for the three main OS are:
At least six zero-day vulnerabilities in Apple Computer Inc.’s Mac OS X were disclosed earlier this week by an independent researcher, who noted that all can crash applications or the operating system, and some may let attackers hijack systems.
