If you’re a Mac user and you haven’t made the move to Mavericks, this may get your attention. According to Sophos, if you’re not running Mavericks, you might be less secure:
Without saying it in so many words, or any words for that matter, Apple appears to have stopped releasing security updates for OS X 10.6.8, 10.7.5 and 10.8.5.
That’s kind of alarming on the surface as that put you into the same camp as those who run Windows XP. In fact the article makes that comparison. But let’s dig into this:
- Sophos is using installations of its products to get their numbers on who runs what version of OS X. That likely isn’t the whole picture of what is out there. It also raises some interesting privacy concerns about what info Sophos is collecting from users of Sophos Anti Virus For Mac. But I’ll leave that for another day.
- When Mavericks was released, security updates for older versions of OS X were released on the same day. I know that because I updated my existing OS X install before installing Mavericks. Not only that, the Apple support page that is in the quote that I pasted above lists updates for software for OS X 10.7 and up as recently as 16 December. A Java update for versions 10.6 and up on 15 October. And the most recent security update which is also for versions 10.6 and up was on 12 September.
Net result, I find the argument that Sophos is making to be flawed. Clearly Apple appears to be updating older versions of OS X. Keep in mind that Apple only issues security updates on an as needed basis rather than on “Patch Tuesday” like Microsoft does. Thus it can create the impression that Apple is behind when it comes to security when it actually isn’t. It is also clear that while Mavericks is free and you should upgrade if you can, you likely won’t be any less secure if you don’t.
File this one under FUD.
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This entry was posted on January 10, 2014 at 10:59 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Security, Sophos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Sophos Claims Apple Has Abandoned Anyone Who Doesn’t Run Mavericks
If you’re a Mac user and you haven’t made the move to Mavericks, this may get your attention. According to Sophos, if you’re not running Mavericks, you might be less secure:
Without saying it in so many words, or any words for that matter, Apple appears to have stopped releasing security updates for OS X 10.6.8, 10.7.5 and 10.8.5.
That’s kind of alarming on the surface as that put you into the same camp as those who run Windows XP. In fact the article makes that comparison. But let’s dig into this:
Net result, I find the argument that Sophos is making to be flawed. Clearly Apple appears to be updating older versions of OS X. Keep in mind that Apple only issues security updates on an as needed basis rather than on “Patch Tuesday” like Microsoft does. Thus it can create the impression that Apple is behind when it comes to security when it actually isn’t. It is also clear that while Mavericks is free and you should upgrade if you can, you likely won’t be any less secure if you don’t.
File this one under FUD.
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This entry was posted on January 10, 2014 at 10:59 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Security, Sophos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.