Apple's security through obscurity policy at Black Hat
Apple makes beautiful products, but don't try looking under the hood to see how secure they are. I'm a huge Apple fan, but I found this news that two presentations on Apple's security were pulled from the annual Black Hat conference.
One was a presentation by Apple employees on the company's security policies. On that one, it's shocking that the employees were planning to speak at all, as Apple is very tight-lipped about anyone within the company speaking publicly.
But the other, as the Slashdot commentary highlights, was to discuss problems with Apple's FileVault encryption system. This sort of public discussion is critical to helping to resolve security issues, especially with Apple recently found to have the most security vulnerabilities by an IBM research team. Security through obscurity doesn't work.
As Apple (thankfully) becomes a bigger force in the market, it needs to ensure its security is top-notch. Its architecture and Unix underpinnings already give it a headstart, but working through potential security problems in a transparent manner would help further.
Yes, Apple is skittish about any public disclosure. But security is one area that it can't afford to keep its cards too close to its vest.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
As MS has proved time and time again, black box "security" is no security at all.
- by Seaspray0 August 4, 2008 11:48 AM PDT
- Apple rhetoric has always been "don't acknowledge any security flaws and then they won't exist. Only the other guys have security flaws." Yea, right... "especially with Apple recently found to have the most security vulnerabilities by an IBM research team." Decider will be happy to deny any kind of security vulnerability. So, are you going to listen to the fanboys or are you going to take the steps needed to protect your computer? The truth: there is no such thing as a totaly secure operating system.
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- by The_Decider August 4, 2008 12:53 PM PDT
- Show us the last OSX exploit that traveled around outside a lab.
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(3 Comments)Like usual, you misunderstand. No one denies that OSX has had vulnerabilities(only idiots like you say we do), it is the very simple fact that OSX is almost 10 years old and has never had an in the wild exploit that spreads around.
Not one.
I know you won't understand this either, but there ya go.