Mac, Linux, BSD open for attack: Kaspersky

Hackers playground as users choose flexibility over security.

Looming attacks will soon pop the security bubble enjoyed by Linux and Macintosh users, according to Russian security expert Eugene Kaspersky.

The co-founder of IT security company Kaspersky Labs said Linux and Mac users will be “easy targets” for hackers and malware writers over the next few years.

“Modern operating systems are flawed by design,” Kaspersky said, “including OpenBSD”.

“Mac and Linux are not as secure as [users] think; criminals pay no attention to them at the moment, but they will be vulnerable — easy targets.

“The problem is that customers design the operating systems (either within open source communities or via market demand) and they choose flexibility over security.”

The most secure operating systems such as Symbian 9 and 10 and mobile platform Brew have been pushed aside for their more functional counterparts, according to Kaspersky.

“Secure operating systems are unlikely to emerge in the foreseeable future,” he added.

He said the Achilles' heel of flexible, popular operating systems is that they run unsigned applications.

“It takes a long time to get a certificates for applications, so secure operating systems have a limited set of applications and services,” Kaspersky said.

According to Kaspersky, secure operating systems only attract about 1 to 3 percent of users because of their functionality limitations.

PureHacking senior security consultant Chris Gatford said the platforms will be increasingly targeted as more people migrate to them.

“It is lucky that to date BSD and Mac users haven't really been targeted yet because there are proof-of-concept malware around and a few in the wild,” Gatford said.

“Users will always want to run whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of security concerns.”

References show all

Comments

1

dloegering@magnumlog.com

Wed 22/10/2008 - 08:03

What kind of idiot would write that?

I am tired of morons claiming the sky is falling. Do you really think tomorrow we are going to have viruses that will jump on your Linux os and destroy the machine? Who has decided that Linux and BSD would change the way they work so the users can run any program any time? Of course if someone made it easy enough that you can run whatever you want on the computer the desktop Linux would be adopted faster by Joe Public. The author implies the decision has already been made to make the system less secure by allowing just any program to run on it. Can anyone tell me who came up with such a stupid plan in the first place?

2

beebum@gmail.com

Fri 24/10/2008 - 00:45

Self Perpetuating?

You don't need Kaspersky's software for Linux or BSD. He's just trying to convince people to stay with Windoze so there will always be a demand for his software.

3

mas

Thu 21/07/2011 - 14:15

few years? its 2011 now ...do we have to wait more?

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