Date: Tue Feb 28 17:03:21 2006
From: stefmit at gmail.com (Stef)
Subject: Question about Mac OS X 10.4 Security

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@...oo.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@...ts.grok.org.uk
> [mailto:full-disclosure-bounces@...ts.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@...allas.edu> wrote:
> <snip>
> >
> > Still, the ignorance of Mac users, who believe their
> platform is
> > somehow magically "secure" will contribute to the
> problem.
> >
> > Paul Schmehl (pauls@...allas.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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