Apple's Security Model

John Brownlee:

Apple’s doing a lot right when it comes to security: GateKeeper, app sandboxing, and so on. Could Apple keep OS X even safer by pulling a Microsoft and outsourcing most of its security to third-party antivirus companies?

No. Lack of necessity for security software (and the software/battery drain they provide) is a big part of what makes average people feel safe buying and using a Mac over a PC.

Mac Malware

Peter Cohen on the 20% of Macs with Malware:

So where was the Sophos software finding these malignant tumors in my e-mail circulatory system? Gmail, specifically. In the junk bucket.

In a previous article Peter also pointed out:

Sophos is including Windows malware, sent to you by e-mail, for example, by unwitting Windows users. That stuff will never give OS X a problem.

And:

What’s more, Sophos’ thesis is predicated on assumptions made using data retrieved from “Mac computers which have recently downloaded Sophos’s free Mac anti-virus software.” Mac users who have downloaded anti-virus software are a self-selecting group if ever I heard one. One in five of those Macs may have some kind of malware on them, but I’d be very surprised if that was the same as the public at large.

Android Malware

Andy Greenberg, on the latest Android malware research:

The malware’s trick–what researchers call “privilege escalation”–would be far more difficult on Apple’s more restrictive platform for the iPhone and iPad, which only allows approved code to run on the devices.

Feeling pretty secure in my walled garden. Just sayin'.