Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security
From: Stef <stefmit () gmail com>
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:03:12 -0600
If you look at the [very, very] specific paragraph I was referring to, from Paul's email, then I hope you will agree with me that what I was trying to convey was the need to avoid generalizing categorization of users ... having said that, the implications are that a much higher awareness, and - in turn - possibility of addressing and/preventing issues related to vulnerabilities exists in the Mac community, vs. the Windows one, for example. Stef P.S. Sorry for top-posting, but going back to the end would have made this a mess ... On 2/28/06, Steven Rakick <stevenrakick () yahoo com> wrote:
Ok, first of all, the fact that you even mention Blackhat, SANS or Cisco Networkers makes me question if I should even respond...I will anyway. Yes, it's true a lot of folks, particularly in the security realm use Macs, myself included. The reason I use it has nothing to do with an imaginary belief in security supremacy, but rather that the tools I use on a daily basis run natively along side software like MS office. Previously, like many others, I would have been forced to run a kludgy dual boot or VMware based solution to solve this. OSX was the perfect solution.
-----Original Message----- From: full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk [mailto:full-disclosure-bounces () lists grok org uk] On Behalf Of Stef Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:14 AM To: Untitled Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security On 2/28/06, Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu> wrote: <snip>Still, the ignorance of Mac users, who believe theirplatform issomehow magically "secure" will contribute to theproblem.Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu) Adjunct Information Security Officer University of Texas at Dallas AVIEN Founding Member http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/I am sorry, Paul, but I have to take you up on this, especially with your tendency of generalizing everything. I have used *nix in the past, for all my network and security tools, until MacOSX presented itself as an opportunity for migration, when I had a need for a new laptop (over two years ago). At that time the 2.6 kernel and available modules weren't up to the tasks of the latest hardware capabilities of x86 laptops, so - on an advice from a friend of mine - I have tried an iBook. I have been able to compile and port all my tools just fine, especially with the help of the underlying "like-BSD" infrastructure (long live fink and Darwin-ports). All I can tell you is that - ever since - I never looked back at other choices (w/the exception of Windows, which was never considered among choices, anyway, due to limitations in cygwin, not talking about the many other obvious reasons for the OS, itself ;)), and have recently got myself the latest still-PPC Powerbook, which just confirmed the rightness of the original migration. As a repository of security and network tools, I have thrown at this baby everything I can possible think of, and still haven't found a way to break it ... ... so the Mac users are not [only] the bunch of idiots/ignorants whom you tend to describe - I would just invite you to attend a blackhat or shmoocon, or even SANS or Cisco networkers, and let me know how many Mac users you can count there ... and then ask yourself why ... but then, again, I may be wrong ;> Stef
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Current thread:
- Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Ferdinand Klinzer (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Stephen Johnson (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Paul Schmehl (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security KF (lists) (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Stef (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Mike Owen (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Paul Schmehl (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Stephen Johnson (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Michael Holstein (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security KF (lists) (Feb 28)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Steven Rakick (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Steven Rakick (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Stef (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Paul Schmehl (Feb 28)
- Re: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security Stef (Feb 28)