Security expert Charlie Miller, who is known for having discovered bugs and security flaws in Mac OS X as well as other Apple products including the iPhone in the recent past, has claimed that there are currently 20 zero-day security vulnerabilities (meaning vulnerabilities of which the developers are not aware at present) in Mac OS X.
These vulnerabilities, which are related to numerous OS X components including Preview and mdnresponder, can allow for the possibility of remote exploits of machines running OS X.
This should be a wake-up call for users who are still under the impression that the long-held Apple maxim that Macs don’t have security vulnerabilities or need security software is actually true. Comparing OS X to Windows, Miller states that OS X is “safer, but less secure.” In other words, while Mac users are probably less likely at the moment to encounter serious security problems because the Mac platform still isn’t targeted by hackers with the same intensity that Windows is, OS X in some respects appears to actually have a greater number of severe security flaws that hackers may be able to exploit with enough effort.
Charlie Miller will be discussing the OS X vulnerabilities at next week’s CanSecWest security conference.
Related posts:
- Security Update 2010-003 for Mac OS X Released
- Mac OS X 10.6.3 Released
- Apple Suggests Security Software May Increase Mac Security
- Mac Security Problems Exposed at Pwn2Own
- Growing Concern Over Mac Security
