Kaspersky CEO Says Apple is 'Ten Years Behind Microsoft in Terms of Security'

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Posted April 26, 2012 at 1:07am by Shalom Levytam

Kaspersky founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky says Apple is 'ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security', reports CBR.

At Info Security 2012, Kaspersky noted that Apple will have to change how it approaches updates following recent malware attacks such as the Flashback trojan which infected over 650,000 Macs.

"I think they are ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security," Kaspersky told us. "For many years I've been saying that from a security point of view there is no big difference between Mac and Windows. It's always been possible to develop Mac malware, but this one was a bit different. For example it was asking questions about being installed on the system and, using vulnerabilities, it was able to get to the user mode without any alarms."

Kaspersky continued to say that an increase in Mac malware was, "just a question of time and market share. Cyber criminals have now recognised that Mac is an interesting area. Now we have more, it's not just Flashback or Flashfake. Welcome to Microsoft's world, Mac. It's full of malware."

"Apple is now entering the same world as Microsoft has been in for more than 10 years: updates, security patches and so on," he added. "We now expect to see more and more because cyber criminals learn from success and this was the first successful one."

Kaspersky believes that Apple will have to change how it handles update cycles. It took far too long to respond to recent threats, leaving its users vulnerable to attack.

"They will understand very soon that they have the same problems Microsoft had ten or 12 years ago. They will have to make changes in terms of the cycle of updates and so on and will be forced to invest more into their security audits for the software," Kaspersky told CBR. "That's what Microsoft did in the past after so many incidents like Blaster and the more complicated worms that infected millions of computers in a short time. They had to do a lot of work to check the code to find mistakes and vulnerabilities. Now it's time for Apple [to do that]."

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Kaspersky CEO Says Apple is 'Ten Years Behind Microsoft in Terms of Security'

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Perr - April 27, 2012 at 1:23pm

Does It mean that in 10 years Kaspersky retires? How can he predict 10 years from now?

lepaka - April 27, 2012 at 6:46am

by 3rd grade? yes for 20 years i´m Apple user, and since the OSX 10.2 that i refuse to use Windows, even at work i use my personal computer, i live happy and i don´t loose time, an i did never had a virus, no crash window, no blue screen, ... uhps - on my 1st post the "z"s should be "y"s.

Chris - April 26, 2012 at 8:36pm

To the guy that said iOS doesn't have viruses... It's only a matter of time. In fact, we all know that it can be done - what is a user land jailbreak? An exploit that can install software on your device without your consent/interaction. It just happens that many of us WANT the jailbreak. But it could just as easily be used for other purposes.

Kr00 - April 27, 2012 at 2:32am

The userland exploit known as jailbreakme wasn't exploitable without user knowledge or consent. You had to go to their website and hit the button saying 'Jailbreakme'. iOS is sandboxed unless you jailbreak your device, but even then you have to have the phone to be able to dive into the root partition. It seems there's a misunderstanding about how these exploits work.

lepaka - April 27, 2012 at 6:49am

Sorry Chris, but you dont know what you are saying. Even if a jailbreak iOS is vunerable, that is a option from the user, not an iOS or Apple responsability.

Chris - April 27, 2012 at 8:49am

As it happens, I have a doctorate in computer security, so let's start there. Rather than being aggressive, try reading first and commenting only if you actually understood what was being said. 1. I didn't say a jailbroken phone was necessarily insecure, I said there are vulnerabilities in iOS that could be exploited and used for malware. Therefore it is Apple's remit to fix. 2. Just because the interface of Jailbreakme required user interaction doesn't mean the exploit needed it to run. The user interaction simply redirected to a specially crafted PDF document. You could embed that in a web page for an exploit without permission. 3. Why do researchers refer to 'exploits' when they talk about jailbreaking if there are no insecurities in the OS?

Canuck - April 26, 2012 at 3:53pm

Wow I feel bad for your clients. AVG free is more than sufficient. As for Kaspersky I can't comment, but worst... Norton hands down

Carlos - April 26, 2012 at 9:36am

He's right, Microsoft has weekly security updates. Because of that, possible threats are dealt with before anyone can exploit them. No one cares about marketing strategies, he's talking how Apple is handling its security.

Tom - April 26, 2012 at 8:42am

No wonder I never trusted Kaspersky when I was on PC; if their CEO doesn't know the difference between virus and malware, do you think their antivirus is good at all? Hey CEO, it's only malware, nothing new about it and doesn't damage anything, whereas malware on a PC slows down the computer...

lepaka - April 26, 2012 at 7:17am

for your information Mr. URSS, Apple has an iOS system, which is Virus imune, and the OSX system for the Computers is step by step converging in an iOS system. So my advice, just forget Apple computers, and continue with you fabolous Windows computers, ahahahah :)

Madmanc47 - April 26, 2012 at 7:04am

The only time I will ever have windows is when I have my double glazing renewed :) , in 4 years of having a mac I have never had 1 issue :) windows had weekly issues you need a 1tb hard drive just for windows updates lol

Breix - April 26, 2012 at 4:32am

It seems mac got some issues.. Well even if there is or not, fellas a virus is a virus.. It doesn't matter who did it or if ur usin PC or MAC once u got hit and u ignored it ur done for.. Think about it, it's not just a for the money but for inconvinience also.

ElDuffo - April 26, 2012 at 4:22am

Usual fan-boys talk - burry you head in the sand and ignore reality - because we are so smart...

Russell - April 26, 2012 at 4:10am

FYI - Every year for the past 6 yrs, an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization called AV Comparatives have been comparing antivirus programs. For 2011, guess which program won?........Kaspersky. http://www.av-comparatives.org/en/comparativesreviews/summary-reports

Russell - April 26, 2012 at 4:01am

What I believe Kaspersky means is Apple is handling virus/malware like Microsoft did ten years ago. They were arrogant and lazy. They took their time getting patches out. "They will understand very soon that they have the same problems Microsoft had ten or 12 years ago. They will have to make changes in terms of the cycle of updates and so on and will be forced to invest more into their security audits for the software," Kaspersky told CBR. "That's what Microsoft did in the past after so many incidents like Blaster and the more complicated worms that infected millions of computers in a short time. They had to do a lot of work to check the code to find mistakes and vulnerabilities. Now it's time for Apple [to do that]," he added.

Gio - April 26, 2012 at 3:18am

That is a good marketing stunt, scare people, make them think they need his products....hahahaha this guy did not realized that Mac users are not stupid like the people is used to deal with...

farpthor - April 26, 2012 at 2:02am

Ok, so you Mac is now officially just a few thousands virus behind MS. How's that for a second place?

Noman - April 26, 2012 at 1:55am

You don't suppose that Kaspersky might have a vested interested in scaring people into buying antivirus software, do you?