The Security Mentor

Who is the news from?
Does it include specifics?
Do the facts support the headline?
Are there quotes from independent sources?
Does the article answer logical questions?

Here's an example to practice on: a report about Macintoshes vulnerable to viruses.

Who is it from? The "news" is from Symantec. Symantec makes antivirus software.

Does it include specifics? It doesn't mention a single virus that infects Mac OS X.

Do the facts support the headline? You can't tell. They talk about vulnerabilities disovered in OS X without saying whether the vulnerabilities would allow spreading viruses.

Are there quotes from independent sources? No. Just something from another anti-virus vendor. Nothing from Apple, nothing from security researchers, nothing from virus writers.

Does the article answer logical questions? The first logical question is, how many viruses in circulation affect Mac OS X? There is no answer.

You're going to hear the article's central argument a lot, so it's important to understand the facts behind it. Symantec says that the only reason so many viruses attack Windows is that Windows has more market share. OK, let's take a look at some place where Microsoft has a minority of the market and see if they're going unmolested there. Over 60% of the web sites out there are powered by a non-Microsoft package called Apache. Most of the defacements and takeovers have hit Microsoft's web server software despite its smaller market share.

The strange thing is that someone could make an honest case for worrying about Mac OS X. Computers do what you tell them -- if you tell it to install a program that turns out to be spyware, then you'll have spyware. If you run Microsoft Office, you can catch viruses that live in Office documents and reproduce with the Office macro language. Mac users still need to practice good hygiene.