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Leopard spotted with more problems
Author: Phil CogarPublished: 1st November 2007
Flaws abound in the latest Mac OS X offering from Apple.
One major issue is that when upgrading, even users who had the firewall activated on their previous install will find it deactivated once they fire Leopard up. Worse than that is that even once activated, the Leopard firewall has many holes that can allow outside sources to access both system data and user data.
The Apple firewall, similar to newer versions of Windows firewalls, is also capable of ground-level virus scanning. Unfortunately the Leopard firewall failed to detect viruses that infiltrated the system while the firewall was disabled, even after it was reactivated. Basically, users who haven’t noticed their firewall deactivated may potentially already be infected with malware that won’t be caught by Apple’s software, even after you reactivate it.
This isn’t the first time OS X has had serious security flaws. It has always had comparatively sub-par virus protection, and companies that provide additional virus scanning software don’t tend to focus on OS X nearly as heavily as Windows. This could be due to a few things – not the most subtle of which is market share.
Though Apple has made great advancements in the market since OS X was first released and has been gaining popularity even more rapidly since the company partnered with Intel, it still doesn’t have anywhere close to the saturation of Windows. OS X holds around 6.5% of the OS market currently, with all versions of Windows holding over 90% (statistics sourced from here).
Apple fans will always bring up two points to establish OS X’s seniority over Windows: how foolproof it is to install, and how secure it is. In the last few days we’ve seen news contradicting both of these points.
Are you considering OS X and having second thoughts in light of recent news? Tell us your thoughts over in the forums.
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Comments (24)
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/me stares longly @ leopard box
The firewall in OS X does seem to suck as far as I can tell from poking around the settings for it, although the built-in Windows one seems only the tiniest bit better.
no need for performance-sucking firewalls here,
though it is worth noting even the most expensive hardware firewall still needs to be backed up by a decent antivirus program, AVG (payware) does the job nicely, and doesn't choke the system.
Unless you play any source based game in which case you could be in for a world of hurt. (Sorry for the OT post, sore issue:()
It doesn't come in via the network like the article seems to think and it needs the user to run it and give it admin privilidges too.
actually, there are ways around it
I'm on my laptop which has company required norton; but I'll dig up the settings for you when I get home.
Woah, that's the last thing I expected someone to post! Without wanting to sound like a fanboy, you do realise OS X's firewall is ipfw? For the uninitiated - thats FreeBSD's firewall! It's an incredibly powerful, reliable, tried and tested, widely used firewall and runs in the kernel (where it belongs) and so the impact on performance is next to none. You can play with it via terminal (obviously) :)
The firewall was actually the first thing I went to check when I enabled Leopard, i was surprised to see it turned off :o
At least SOMEONE got Phil's subtle joke. I personally found it entertaining. :)
Maybe the firewall config is the one thing I really haven't quite switched over to expecting Mac-like simplicity yet since I'm so used to playing with all of the port forwarding rules and such in my router. Normally that simplicity works really well for me, but with something as complex as a firewall, it just seems overdone.
Apple release this OS too soon
I find this the comment with the most sense.
And yet it was already delayed. I really wish I had a Mac that I could try this out on. I've used Tiger enough to get a feel for it, and have enjoyed using. Sure there are issues, but that's true of any OS, but it goes to show that not even Apple is perfect, despite what fanboys say. I'm sure they'll have a fix for these issues soon, unless they really want to look more like Microsoft usually does!
i got it to, but i groaned alot
Ah yeah, sure, there's no front end to speak of other than what is in Sys Prefs, but there are a number of apps you can get hold of that provide a GUI.
Like I said, it's fully featured so there's nothing you can't do with it that you can with windows/routers/whatever - it's the basis of m0n0wall, for example. Of course you can skip the GUI stuff and just edit the rule sets via CLI, but a lot of people wont want to do that ;)
It's like watching the Apple spoofs all over again, but this time, Apple ass hats cant say a damn thing, because their "Superior" OS now is in the Shits.
Apple Sucks. I hate with a Passion that of the intensity of a thousand suns. :(:(>:(
You sir, Are an Idiot.
I couldnt expect much from a guy that has A signature that only says "VAIO".
Hey, have you ever played this awesome game called..............Oh wait. That's right.
You havent. Becaue you own a sony. And support the next thing to it, which is as useful for gaming as a desk lamp.
And you can't say you dont support Apple casue you called me and idiot.
Also you cant say that SONY computers are supper good at Pc gaming.
Believe me, I know. Sometimes I have to fix those great designs (Flaws) that sony has. :(
And if you want to argue office apps, I'm sorry, but even a stupid palm pilot can do apps. So I would'nt be impressed.
So all together, Apple still sucks and Sony goes along with it.
Heck, I'll even go as far to say, that Microsoft, Who is mainly a software company, made a console that beat the siht out of sony. Xbox.
I dont own one, becasue I play games on Pc's, but it really is a good Console. And kicks sony in the balls.
I still find my self giggling at the crap they tried to pull with that stupid card game they want to make for the console. :o