Wired News has an interesting report from Leander Kahney about security and Mac OS X. Centered around the recent brouhaha over a critical flaw found in Mac OS X, the report suggests that Apple’s overall track record on security is very good. Included in the report are some comments from an Apple exec directly addressing the latest security flap, something that is very unusual for the company. From the article:
Ken Bereskin, Apple’s director of Mac OS X product marketing, said that Apple was stung by recent criticism that the company didn’t communicate in detail about security updates. He admitted descriptions of patches downloaded automatically in OS X’s Software Update mechanism tended to be simplistic.
"We think it was very, very valid feedback that we received from customers," Bereskin said. "We’ve had a wealth of information, but people haven’t known it existed." Detailed information is available at the company’s security Web site, and even some security companies aren’t aware of it, Bereskin said.
Starting with the latest security update, Apple now includes a link to its security Web site, Bereskin said.
"We’ve actually acted on that feedback," he said. "I think that is an example that very much we want to refine our process."
Bereskin added, "In general, we feel we’ve been approaching security in a really smart way. Nothing can be perfect. I think everybody acknowledges that, but we’re trying to make it as safe and trustworthy for our customers as possible."
There’s much more information in the full article, including comments from analysts that are largely positive, and some anecdotal information from a US Senator’s office. We recommend it as an interesting read.
The Mac Observer Spin:
We find these comments from Mr. Bereskin to be very encouraging. We think a more open Apple on these issues would benefit the entire Mac platform, and it seems possible that the folks at 1 Infinite Loop might be heading that way.
Time will tell, of course.
That said, there’s a comment from Peter Kastner, chief research officer at Aberdeen Group, who said he felt the overreaction from the Mac community over last month’s security issue was "overblown." From our perspective, it was that overreaction that got Apple to sit up and take notice that its customers would like more communication from the company.