- Everyone Knows What "Cybersecurity" Means
- We Can Measure How Secure Our Systems Are
- The Primary Goal of Cybersecurity Is Security
- Cybersecurity Is About Obvious Risks
- Sharing More Cyber Threat Intel Will Make Things Better
- What Matters to You Matters to Everyone Else
- Product X Will Make You Secure
- Macs Are Safer Than PCs, Linux Is Safer Than Windows
- Open Source Software Is More Secure Than Closed Source Software
- Technology X Will Make You Secure
- Process X Will Make You Secure
- Faerie Dust Can Make Old Ideas Magically Revolutionary
- Passwords Should Be Changed Often
- Believe and Fear Every Hacking Demo You See
- Cyber Offense Is Easier Than Defense
- Operational Technology (OT) Is Not Vulnerable
- Breaking Systems Is the Best Way to Establish Yourself
- Because You Can, You Should
- Better Security Means Worse Privacy
- Further Reading
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Macs Are Safer Than PCs, Linux Is Safer Than Windows
The choice of computer platform is a specific instance of the myth that a particular product will make us secure.
Imagine that you are in the criminal business. Your tactic is to infect victims and run crypto mining malware.40 The more computers you compromise, the more money you make. The malicious software you create must be developed separately for each platform. Malware for Windows does not work on Macs, so it’s more work to go after both. Which is a better target for you: Macs or PCs?41
Setting aside potentially relevant factors such as the type of people who own Macs or PCs, consider the most relevant attribute: market share. As of June 2021, Microsoft dominated the desktop operating system market with 73%, with macOS next at 16%, followed by Linux at 3%.42 People who run Linux believe that their computer is more secure.43 While it might be, in practice, we would not expect attackers to spend their time on such a small market share. From a purely rational (though evil) perspective, criminals should target PCs running Windows because there are simply more potential victims.
In addition to market share, there was a time some decades ago when more care was put into the quality and security of some software systems. Looking at some measures of fault incidence, it might have seemed that one system would have an advantage over others; however, as we noted in the Introduction, things change and evolve. It is difficult to conclusively state that one particular system is more immune to common threats than another, especially considering various add-on defenses. The perception has remained, however.
Thus, Mac and iPhone enthusiasts have, from time to time, claimed that their devices are more secure than the competition. There is a lot of competition and loyalty in technology. Many people have strong opinions and allegiance to Apple products or, conversely, to Microsoft. You might remember the “Mac versus PC” television commercials in the 2000s suggesting that Macs were cool and PCs were bumbling.44 You can be fiercely loyal, but do not let that blind you to the fact that all users and devices are vulnerable. Nobody is immune.
Further, the market share of Macs continues to grow. If those users believe they are inherently more secure, they will be less cautious than they should be. Attackers will notice this and exploit the overconfidence bias. The truth is that both Macs and PCs have vulnerabilities. We have some risks whether we run Windows, macOS, Linux, or something else. In many social engineering attacks, such as tricking us into entering our password into a fake bank website, it does not matter what we are running. Users of all systems must be careful and diligent.