Experts Trash Mac Security Warnings

NewsFactor has a story today that puts to the test the claims of a recent white paper (PDF link) from McAfee that warned Mac OS X could be the next Windows.

Andrew Jaquith, an analyst at the Yankee Group, is one such expert. He called the McAfee report "sloppily written and sloppy in its use of statistics." It is, he said, "a speculative house of cards resting on a foundation of shaky statistics and questionable assumptions."

To the article's enormous credit, it also takes the conspiracy theory out of the discussion of McAfee's release. They're not trying to discredit OS X for the gain of Windows – they're trying to sell anti-virus software to Mac owners.

Ayoub did agree with the report's conclusion that Mac users should install security software on their systems. "I can't blame McAfee for wanting to capitalize on that," he said.

When some actual attacks happen, maybe it will become a problem. Until that time, there are a few, largely unexploited software flaws, most of them in Safari, that Apple is patching. I've still never heard from a switcher friend of mine that the malware on his or her Mac is driving them back to Windows...