from Hacker News

Macs Can't Get Spam

by jodoglevy on 5/21/12, 6:30 PM with 4 comments

• by patdennis on 5/21/12, 7:02 PM

  The quote from Apple's website that the author uses to condemn Apple as creating a false sense of security is a bit out of context. Apple isn't saying that they're immune to viruses. Rather, they go on to detail the exact security measures they're talking about.

  "With virtually no effort on your part, OS X defends against viruses and other malicious applications, or malware. For example, it thwarts hackers through a technique called “sandboxing” — restricting what actions programs can perform on your Mac, what files they can access, and what other programs they can launch. With FileVault 2, your data is safe and secure — even if it falls into the wrong hands. FileVault 2 encrypts the entire drive on your Mac, protecting your data with XTS-AESW 128 encryption. Initial encryption is fast and unobtrusive. It can also encrypt any removable drive, helping you secure Time Machine backups or other external drives with ease. Other automatic security features include Library Randomization, which prevents malicious commands from finding their targets, and Execute Disable, which protects the memory in your Mac from attacks."

  It goes on to detail Safari's antiphishing features, among other things.

  I'm no Apple fanboy, but I don't think the quote cited by the author is enough to condemn Apple.

• by degenerate on 5/21/12, 7:22 PM

  If you think you dumbed that down for your friend's mom, you didn't. What you needed to explain is that "...your email is not attached to your computer -- you can have the same email on MANY computers..." and then tie in the fact that spam can happen on any computer because of that. Tell her it's JUST LIKE getting junk mail in a PO box with a forwarding address. The junk gets forwarded too.