Apple + Security & Privacy

Ira Winkler, president of Internet Security Advisors Group, writing in Computerworld, makes a bold suggestion regarding Apple’s advertising claims regarding security. He feels that, given the number of vulnerabilities found for Mac OS X, that the Federal Trade Commission should investigate these claims. “Apple gives people the false impression that they don’t have to worry about security if they use a Mac,” he says. “And perhaps because the company is invested in fostering that impression, Apple is grossly negligent in fixing problems.”

We have reported here about Apple’s foot-dragging regarding certain vulnerabilities, notably the six-month-old Java vulnerability we wrote about last week. But it’s Apple’s marketing that gets singled out in this article. Winkler writes, “How can Apple get away with this blatant disregard for security? Its advertising claims seem comparable to an automobile manufacturer implying that its cars are completely safe and its competitors’ cars are death traps, when we all know that all cars are inherently unsafe. Claims like those would surely draw the wrath of the Federal Trade Commission.”

Winkler doesn’t say this is a problem with Apple’s software or operating system. “And just to be clear, it is not that Apple’s software has security vulnerabilities that is the problem; all commercial software does. The problem is that Apple is grossly misleading people to believe otherwise.”