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08-27-2009
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Bundling Security with the OS
Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is being released tomorrow, and with it amuch-improved version of File Quarantine, security software bundledwith OS X. CNET posted an early review of the OS and states "File Quarantine checks for known malware signatures and displays analert dialog if it finds a known offender and will be automaticallyupdated via Mac OS X's software update as new malware signatures arefound in the wild." This levels the playing field somewhat between it and the latest versions of Windows because, the article continues, "Leopard has some ASLR but everything is notrandomized and Leopard has no DEP."
So I am wondering if the best security software for an OS is that whichis bundled with the OS. Why? It's akin to complaints made by softwarevendors since Windows 95, that Microsoft knew all the secret hooks andAPIs of their OS but only shared some of them, reserving the best onesfor their own software, which gave them an unfair advantage (so thecomplaint goes.) Perhaps in a perfect world OS providers would shareeverything with everyone and so any vendor had the chance to create thebest-running software for an OS. But not everything is Linux and opensource (sorry, couldn't resist.)
So, since Apple knows OS X best, who better to develop securitysoftware for that platform? The same goes for Microsoft and Windows.
But where does this leave security software companies? Perhaps ifApple and Microsoft partnered closely with these vendors, all wouldbenefit, including the customer. Otherwise, we hope Microsoft willbundle the best possible security software with Windows (the beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials is getting great reviews) and Apple's OS 10.6 really delivers some improved security tools. Snow Leopard will be interesting from a security perspective, regardless of what OS you are a fan of.
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So I am wondering if the best security software for an OS is that whichis bundled with the OS. Why? It's akin to complaints made by softwarevendors since Windows 95, that Microsoft knew all the secret hooks andAPIs of their OS but only shared some of them, reserving the best onesfor their own software, which gave them an unfair advantage (so thecomplaint goes.) Perhaps in a perfect world OS providers would shareeverything with everyone and so any vendor had the chance to create thebest-running software for an OS. But not everything is Linux and opensource (sorry, couldn't resist.)
So, since Apple knows OS X best, who better to develop securitysoftware for that platform? The same goes for Microsoft and Windows.
But where does this leave security software companies? Perhaps ifApple and Microsoft partnered closely with these vendors, all wouldbenefit, including the customer. Otherwise, we hope Microsoft willbundle the best possible security software with Windows (the beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials is getting great reviews) and Apple's OS 10.6 really delivers some improved security tools. Snow Leopard will be interesting from a security perspective, regardless of what OS you are a fan of.
More...