Vista Shows Better Security Than ...

Computerworld - ... Mac OS X does. That’s the view of Max Caceres, director of product management at Boston-based Core Security Technologies, which develops network-penetration testing software called Core Impact. Caceres says that Microsoft Corp. uses more advanced security techniques in Windows Vista than Apple Inc. uses in its operating system. Mac OS X “is still a little immature in terms of security compared to Vista,” he contends.

“On paper, Vista is more sound.” As an example, Caceres points to the way Vista handles memory management. Information stored in RAM, he says, is “randomized, making it more difficult to exploit.” That’s not the case with the Mac software, according to Caceres. But, he adds, Apple’s Unix roots, more frequent operating system release cycle and apparent indifference to backward compatibility make the Mac “well positioned to change its security model real quickly.” Plus, he notes, security threats are a market share issue. As long as Windows dominates the desktop, he predicts, it will attract most of the malware.

But how long will that dominance persist? Mac unit sales jumped 28% last quarter, according to Apple, while PC sales languished in single-digit growth, according to everyone. Although the Mac’s market share remains anemic compared with that of Windows, Apple’s hardware is showing up more often in businesses. Mitchell Ashley, chief technology officer at Latis Networks Inc.’s StillSecure operating unit in Superior, Colo., says his company’s Safe Access network access control software has always had to deal with Macs. But recently, that has changed from the occasional encounter to an everyday occurrence. “Today, it’s a requirement for global network access control [tools] to manage Macs,” Ashley says.

Security show may end in tears for...
... the bad guys. Heading to the RSA Conference next week in San Francisco? Expect to find enough new products to make a black-hat hacker weep in despair. Take PacketSentry 2.2, a software upgrade that San Jose-based PacketMotion Inc. plans to add to its security appliances early next month. According to Bob Pratt, PacketMotion’s director of product marketing, the upgrade lets you get policy-based alerts about actions end users take on specific files. For example, you can be notified if anyone tries to delete .xls files in a given directory during the run-up to a quarterly financial report. The PacketSentry devices, which start at $45,000, also collect file access histories and store them in an Oracle database for audit uses.

Steve Roop, vice president of marketing at Vontu Inc., says that in a recent survey he commissioned Forrester Research Inc. to conduct, 52% of 151 security decision-makers at large companies reported that their organizations had lost confidential data via insiders using removable media. To help put a stop to that, San Francisco-based Vontu will add an Endpoint Monitor feature when Version 7 of its namesake software ships in late March. You’ll be able to see who copied what information when, and where it went. Vontu can fingerprint content for protection, and Version 7 will let you keep track of double-byte code files with Asian-language data. Pricing starts at $25,000.