MAC Users Ought to Know How Secure their OS really Is

There is an army of hackers wanting to destroy Microsoft Windows and I doubt the number of people wasting their time breaking MAC (only a small number of people would be affected anyways, so yeah it’s a waste of precious time) is higher than small.

I know of a few friends who has purchased MAC and has boasted to me how secure it is. I told them that the number of vulnerabilities in Windows may be higher but the ratio of hackers to vulnerabilities should be on Microsoft’s side.

I am wrong. Totally wrong. Despite the number of hackers breaking Windows, MAC OS X 10.4 had a pathetic 68 flaws in the first 90 days compared to 12 for Windows Vista. MAC OS X 10.4 has had 18 high severity flaws to 10 for Windows Vista.

Flaws on pre-launch1 (high severity)*

Windows Vista – 0
Windows XP – 3 (0)
REL4ws – 129 (40)
REL4ws reduced** – n/a
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS – 29 (9)
Ubuntu 6.06 reduced** – n/a
SLED10 – 23 (5)
SLED10 reduced** – n/a
OS X 10.4 – 10 (3)

Flaws Fixed in first 90 days (high severity)*

Windows Vista – 12 (10)
Windows XP – 36 (23)
REL4ws – 281 (86)
REL4ws reduced** – 214 (62)
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS – 145 (47)
Ubuntu 6.06 reduced** – 74 (28)
SLED10 – 159 (50)
SLED10 reduced** – 123 (44)
OS X 10.4 – 60 (18)

Unpatched after 90 days (high severity)*

Windows Vista – 15 (1)
Windows XP – 3 (2)
REL4ws – 65 (12)
REL4ws reduced** – 59 (12)
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS – 20 (n/a)
Ubuntu 6.06 reduced** – 11 (2)
SLED10 – 27 (6)
SLED10 reduced** – 20 (6)
OS X 10.4 – 16 (3)

Does Apple deliver secure and stable applications? MAC OS X 10.4 doesn’t indicate Apple’s commitment to security and stability. Recently, Safari was a joke in it’s initial release (story here).

Source here.
Windows Vista vulnerability report here.