Google's Eric Schmidt openly declared that the users demanding security should choose Macs. Schmidt endorsed Mac while speaking
at D9 conference, where, among other things, he confessed 'screwing up' on Facebook threat. But let's just concentrate on Mac endorsement, which sounds a bit ironic, since both Google and Apple are currently fighting off one of the biggest virus threats they had ever faced.
Apple is currently embroiled in a tough battle against MacDefender malware attack and it's been on from last one month. Apple stood up to the challenge and announced issuing a security update. However, after a week's delay, when update was finally launched today, it got breached within a few hours. Tough luck, Apple! According to the rumors, a new version of MacDefender is already out and is designed to pass through Apple's security update. According to ZDnet, the bad guys took less than eight hours to break Apple's code.
The irony of the recommendation thickens when you realize that Google is fighting its own battle against infected apps in the Android Market. The company recently decided to remove more than two dozen apps from the store. These apps are infected by the same malware which had attacked Android Market earlier this year. The new version does not even require the apps to be launched for infecting the system. The repeated attack of the same malware shows that even Google is not performing any better for ensuring the security of data.
Apple is known for its robust system which is not very prone to virus attack. However, for long, the industry experts had claimed that instead of intrinsic strength, the relatively small market share of Apple was the main reason for it being virus-proof. Due to smaller user population, hackers did not find it rewarding enough to write virus codes for OS X. However, things have been changing lately and with the increase in popularity, OS X is also getting more vulnerable to virus attacks. Though Windows' record is probably worse than both Google and Apple combined, but looks like Schmidt did not pick the right time for supporting Apple.