After writing an article about the Secunia report stating the Apple software has the highest number of security bugs, I have been attacked by a biologist/zoologist who now works as “Creative Technologist” (from now on I will say that my job is “Wonderful Engineer“) for an Apple specialist and authorized seller. Although the “creative” word in his job name, he states to be in the security field. I could guess that his job is to say “You don’t need anti-virus on Mac, because no criminal is caring about a platform used by only 5% of active computer population”. Or, since he is an active Christian, probably his job consists in praying “Please Jesus, protect all the Apple computers from viruses and hackers”.

Here is the answer I posted to Darek Currie¹’s blog, just in case he decides to not approve it in order to hide away his complete ignorance of what computer security is.

Dear Derek,
on the oneITSecurity blog you have accused me to plagiarize an article appeared on PCWorld. I don’t want to involve my Italian readers in a quite useless (for them) discussion. Still I want to state some points:

1. I did not plagiarize. PCWorld has copied and pasted a paragraph from the Secunia report. I read the Secunia pdf document, chose the most interesting parts and summarized the most interesting parts putting them in other words in a way that in Italian could sound better while keeping the current meaning. It seems you never read the Secunia report (I’m citing it, taking the news from it, copying even the numbers from it), or otherwise you would have not accused me.

2. I partially agree with you about the correct interpretation of the Secunia Report, and I did write it. Just counting the bugs is quite stupid. I believe that we should look at the time of bugs resolution, and at their severity. And this would lead us to a better evaluation of the “security” of a software.

3. My readers are quite aware of the difference of safety and security. My parents live in a small town. Their house has a wood door with an easy to pick lock. I live in a big city, with a reinforced steel door and a twelve plungers lock. And still while my house is more secure than theirs, their house is safer than mine. In software case, some software is safer only because it is lot easier to aim at a bigger target than a small one.

4. The Secunia report is talking about general software, while you are talking about the mere operating system, even in your post you are comparing Windows and MacOSX. Even I say that “Microsoft is not so bad, after all” there is some irony that I guess is not so easy to translate using an automatic service.

5. It seems more likely that you are an Apple fanatic more than I am “an anti-Mac security myth mongerer”. (BTW, thanks for teaching me a new English word: mongerer. Never heard or read it before, probably it is not used in UK).

6. If a friend of mine asks me “what computer should I buy”, I will suggest him or her to buy a Mac (except for some special application need, like Autocad).

7. Still waiting your apologies.

1. Do you think he is also smelling like curry? [↩]