Study: OS X World’s Safest OS From Security Attacks
November 1st, 2004 at 2:00 PM - News by Brad Gibson
A 12 month study by the security firm mi2g concludes that Mac OS X and Open Source BSD are the "worldis safest and most secure 24/7 online computing environments."
The latest mi2g Intelligence Unit study analyzed 235,907 successful security breaches of continuously Web connected PCs worldwide. Of the nearly quarter million breaches carried out by hackers from November 2003 to October 2004, only 4.82% were against Mac OS X or BSD based online computers.
"More and more smart individuals, government agencies and corporations are shifting towards Apple and BSD environments in 2004," said DK Matai, Executive Chairman of mi2g. "There is an accelerating paradigm shift visible in 2004 and busy professionals have spotted the benefits of Apple and BSD because they donit have the time to cope with umpteen flavors of Linux or to wait for Microsoftis Longhorn when Windows XP has proved to be a stumbling block in some well chronicled instances."
The study revealed that Linux is now the number one most breached 24/7 online computing environment in terms of manual hacker attacks at 65.64%, with 154,846 successfully compromised computers. The number of successful manual hacker attacks against Microsoft Windows based online computers has remained steady and accounts for 25.19% of all breaches recorded, with 59,419 successfully compromised Windows targets of all versions.
The number of recorded breaches against government online computers running BSD or Mac OS X worldwide remains very low at 1.74%, the firm said.
In terms of global economic damage from hacker attacks, mi2g estimated the damage to have been between $103 billion and and $126 billion. These figures exclude malware attacks through viruses, worms and trojans which account for an additional estimated damage of between $166 billion and $202 billion worldwide.
Recent Headlines - Updated November 21st
- Fri, 7:07 PM
- Games - Soccer Sim Championship Manager 2010 Released for Mac
- 6:47 PM
- Games - EA Publishes Original Monopoly for iPhone
- 6:15 PM
- News - Original Apple I on Ebay for $50K, w/Letter from Steve Jobs
- 6:11 PM
- Games - New iPhone Games: Secret of the Lost Cavern Ep 1, New DJ Nights, More
- 5:47 PM
- Games - Star Trek D-A-C Game Headed to the Mac Next Month
- 4:57 PM
- Product News - TidBITS Releases “Take Control of Syncing Data in Snow Leopard”
- 4:26 PM
- John Martellaro's Blog - Particle Debris (week ending 11/20) Stationery Pads Go Poof
- 2:59 PM
- Free on iTunes - Musée du Louvre, Art Lite, SketchBook Mobile X and More.
- 1:50 PM
- Deal Brothers - Acer P215H bmid 21.5” Widescreen LCD Monitor: $139.99
- 11:24 AM
- TMO Appearances - Jeff Gamet Shares More Holiday Gift Ideas on MacJury
- 10:43 AM
- Product News - Cocktail 4.5 for Leopard Adds QuickLook Cache Clearing
- 10:06 AM
- News - Hack Enables Mac OS X 10.6.2 on Netbooks
The Mac Observer Reader Specials
- TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com
OWC: Get the Right Memory for Your Mac Top Quality, Competitive Price, Lifetime Backed Free Expert Support + Installation Videos too! MacBook & mini 8GB, iMac 16GB, Mac Pro up to 32GB. Click here
If you're using a Mac, then you've gotta check out Full Tilt Poker for Mac. This Full Tilt Poker bonus code does the unthinkable, it actually rewards!For the latest Apple products use Ciao, a price comparison website, to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate mobile phones like the Apple iPhone.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.


The Evolved Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12MP Camera: $583.03 Delivered - $16.00 Drop
Panasonic Lumix 10MP Digital Camera: $275.95 Delivered - Additional $6 Drop!