Craig Federighi (Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering): "we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable"

 

Remember that oldie but goldie: "Macs don't get viruses" - yeh right! Apple's software supremo Craig Federighi on Wednesday condemned the security of macOS in an astonishing attempt to defend the walled garden that is the iOS App Store.

It's the latest twist in the ongoing Epic v Apple bench trial in which Cupertino is accused of illegally monopolizing app distribution and payments for iPhones and iPads. Federighi took the stand to argue that because Apple does not control the availability of software on macOS to the extent that it controls what applications are available from its iOS Store, Macs suffer as a consequence. He said the level of malware on Macs is unacceptable, and criticized the security protections in the desktop operating system.

..."And as I say, today, we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable and is much worse than iOS. Put that same situation in place for iOS and it would be a very bad situation for our customers."...

Federighi's statement may seem shocking, particularly to those who bought Apple's Mac laptops and desktops on security grounds. The Mac's operating system isn't totally insecure, and is a cousin of iOS. iOS isn't bug or malware free, either. However, the argument appears to be that macOS is more open, it isn't as locked down as iOS, and thus it's more vulnerable to malicious software that can take over the computer.

www.theregister.com