Comments on: Apple unnecessarily exposing Windows networks to security risks?

By: whinedows biatch

whinedows biatch — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:35:30 +0000

u av splt “ridiculous” rong. innit.

nt tht u cr u fkn langwij btchrng cntz

By: Sridhar Krish

Sridhar Krish — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:42:52 +0000

I think nobody understood Bonjour. It is just an advertising protocol and has nothing to do with compromising security.

It is like DNS, it says shares having media files exist or a printer exists. If nobody implements security to protect these systems then it is an issue.

The security issue that is unnecessarily raked here has nothing to do with the protocol. It is like saying DNS is a problem because it lets somebody to know the servers available in my network…

The issue here is Security by Obscurity.. IT never is a recommended method and is frowned upon. Just because something is not visible does not mean it is not vulnerable.

Most people who exploit networks and devices are smart enough to anyway find devices that are obscured.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:06:37 +0000

Thanks to all those who spoke about that wonderful app, Apple Remote Desktop. It DOES run circles around anything on the Windows side. I know. I worked at a Fortune 100 company that used Altiris. What a joke compared to ARD. Try remote controlling a Windows PC with that cludge of a program, and then remote control a Mac with ARD.

You guys are absolutely right: Windows admins don’t have a clue to anything outside of their MSFT world. Sad, truly sad.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:50:30 +0000

Let IT be alone working with evil Microsoft in poor enterprise and network banks’ needs. IT itself entirely is possibly envious of Apple. We are watching you.

By: OS11

OS11 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:06:43 +0000

oh my God eobiont!

Apple has had enterprise level reporting and software updating tools on the Mac for decades. Apple’s high powered Remote Desktop software alone runs circles around anything in use in Windows enterprise.

Your ignorant comment is just another reason Mac IT always laughs at Windows IT, you guys are just out of the loop to how modern computing works.

Macs are the gold standard in efficient businesses, but I guess you don’t work for one.

By: David Flory

David Flory — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:08:56 +0000

eobiont should learn to spell (ridiculous and insure) and then people might pay more attention to what s/he says. Oh well, that way the other errors pointed out by others would be even more obvious.

By: IT Administrator

IT Administrator — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:48:28 +0000

@eobiont: It’s called Apple Remote Desktop. It has full reporting capabilities, ability to push updates and patches from a central console, and even control machines for purposes of troubleshooting or remote usage in the style of VNC or RDP/Windows Remote Desktop Connection. It’s a product that’s been around for YEARS, and it’s now a version 3.x product.

So I stand by the original assertion — Mac would reduce IT staff, particularly at the helpdesk level, with the reduced risk of malware contaminating endpoint computers. Plus, Mac technologies like Bonjour eliminate a lot of the manual configuration problems for things like network printers that on Windows most times require an IT guy to provide instructions on connecting to (and most recent HP network printers support the Bonjour protocol) Personally, I think Mac would work insanely well for an enterprise.

By: eobiont

eobiont — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:55:07 +0000

To suggest that switching to Macintosh on an enterprise level would reduce IT staff levels is rediculous. Apple provides no enterprise level management tools for Macintosh. Say you have 1000 Macintosh computers on a network. How would I report on what OS version was installed on each one. How can I find out if the February patches for Leopard are installed. Do I need to send out an IT person just to check if the patches are being applied. What about Quicktime? How do I ensure that it is up to date on each of these machines?

The bank example in this article is really rediculous. As others have said, in a bank no user should have admin rights to her machine. Also, Apple provides stand alone QT installers for enterprise so that you can automatically and silently install/ update QuickTime without any other components. Get a brain moran.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:02:01 +0000

Our business celebrates 10 years as a Mac shop in July of this year. That’s 10 years without a virus, trojan or key tracker…

Of course, security experts keep reminding me that I’m just lucky.

By: Walt French

Walt French — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:57:15 +0000

Yeah, if installing unapproved software is a security risk, it should have been prevented. Or, more flexibly, individuals may be given the OK to install software but only IE can access the internet.

Security types are actually control types, but I understand (at least a bit). It’s a lose-lose deal for them: if spyware/malware comes in thru a new, unknown channel (such as whatever exploit was recently used to snare a MacBook Air), the security guys get blamed. If they don’t let users have flexibility to work the way they want, they get blamed.