What’s with all the glowing Apples?
Kevin LongMarch 12th, 2009
When I began attending security conferences several years ago, PowerBooks were a rare sight. In the years since the release of OS X, however, it’s not unusual to find more MacBooks than Windows systems in rooms populated by security professionals.
MacBooks are certainly not more widespread in enterprise environments than Windows systems; BusinessWeek places Apple’s corporate laptop market share at 20%. So why the bigger market share upon InfoSec professionals?
Are you one of those conference attendees with a MacBook in tow? If so, we’re wondering whether you’re leaving a “corporate build” Windows system behind in your office. Do you do all of your work on your Mac? Is it blessed by IT, or does it operate under the radar?
Do you use a Mac because you’re required to, or did you have a choice? Do you like the ability to run Unix commands and Microsoft Office without virtualization? Do you believe your Mac offers more security?
Lastly, although security pros aren’t typically known for their fashion sense (we aren’t here among our Verizon peers, anyway), are you sporting a MacBook due to the image it conveys?
Tags: Apple security, infosec mac, infosec professionals, mac market share, Mac security
Most of the attraction for me is the flexibility. The laptops are generally powerful, comparably priced, have mobility features that actually work (sleep) and *nix tools all generally compile nicely…
I have a *real* firewall in the OS natively (ipfw), and I feel like I have better control over client side issues. Client side exploitation is all the rage right now and I still feel like OS X is not the targeted audience for the most part. I understand that it’s not the platform of choice for those who don a tinfoil hat, but it’s a balance of power and features over security that hits the sweet spot. It’s a hackers platform for sure that’s easy on the eyes and is relatively low maintenance.
I, personally, don’t care about the image. But I do <3 the Apple products I own. Let’s be honest, the platform has gained a ton of traction in the past 5 years. Seemingly many well educated people choose the platform over the other mainstream alternative. There has to be some justification there…
Posted by: windexh8er on March 12th, 2009 at 9:31 pmI use my Mac for all the cross platformy goodness… Unix base… nice gui… just works… windows virtual if i need it… almost the total package for me
Posted by: Richard E. Baker on March 12th, 2009 at 10:12 pmI could not see who wrote this article, although next time your at one of these conferences you have a great chance of asking!
I am a cyber security professional, and use a Macbook as it runs all the software I need, business and personal.
In the corporate environment to use a Mac, first of you need the approval by 3 people, your immediate manager, CIO and IT Security Officer. The employee technical and security skills are also considered in the approval as OS X will not be centrally managed with enforced controls.
After approval, you must follow the OS X secure build to allow it on the network. You are also subject to auditing at any time, as well as a quarterly checkup.
Apple Care support is also fantastic.
Posted by: Apple User on March 13th, 2009 at 1:27 amWell, i can find a few really good reasons for your question. Even though mentioned above!
1. Extremely good hardware always attracts us computer geeks(yes, most of us IT-sec guys are). The hardware of the Mac book pro is really hard to beat when it comes to performance.
2. Possibility to use Unix based tools, it even got the ports tree! It´s not a secret that *nix platform is the first platform of choice when it comes to IT-sec, see BackTrack for example.
3. You get a fancy “windows” GUI(Mac OS X) as well which actually works, so you can play around with those tools as well, both in business and private.
( 4. Most of us “hackers” aren´t really fond of MS since since way back, and this is an acceptable way to use “windows” without actually using MS windows!
)
I personally have a serious issue with the price, but as long as the company pay i suppose it is good to go.
Posted by: Tomtefan on March 13th, 2009 at 2:32 pmI think a good follow up would be why Mac and not Linux? You can get your own hardware and put Ubuntu on it easily enough. The GUI works just fine on every laptop I have had.
If you’re doing your own support anyway I can’t imagine corporate saying Mac is OK but Linux isn’t.
I will say, I bring my Linux laptop to conferences never my corporate issue Windows. mainly because my personal hardware is upgraded far more often than the corporate machine, plus i can have fun stuff on there without violating corp policy.
Posted by: Jeff Martin on March 16th, 2009 at 2:41 pm1) Having total access to a native Unix kernel
Posted by: planetheidi on March 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pm2) Having user-friendly applications that support corporate requirements
3) Having user-friendly applications that support personal requirements
At a recent ISC2 conference in London, there were 100 CISSP delegates. A poll of hands indicated 15% use Macs at home, and 7% have coporate Macs.
As a Security Manager I prefer my MacBook Pro to Windows or Linux because it’s ‘About the Productivity Stupid’.
1. Fast VM’s for all Corporate M$ apps
2. Fast VM’s for all security Linux apps
3. user-friendly applications for personal stuff
4. encryption by user partitions
5. multi-users so I can toggle between my personal stuff and corporate stuff
I would turn the question around – why are the others using non Macs?
Posted by: John on March 18th, 2009 at 10:26 amOur developers all run Macs. They typically have a beefy quad core tower under their desk and do stuff remotely with Mac books.
Posted by: Matt Simmons on March 20th, 2009 at 1:46 amI use a Mac BookPro for one reason. A small group of people demanded to management that they absolutely needed Macs to do their job. There was no way that a PC could do what they needed. I believe I successfully proved their only true need was personal preference, but conceded that personal preference is sometimes a job performance factor. My only argument was that since we had no current in house expertise to manage and support Macs that we would need to develop the processes and procedures before any Macs went into production. We had the Macs for over three months learning and testing before the first one was delivered. I am not sure how they performed their jobs for those 3+ months and I am sure you can guess how much they complained when they realized they did not have admin access to the Macs to install random software on their own at a moment’s whim.
I like the Mac BookPro because it is cool and you cannot beat cool, but I will confess that I only use it to do web things and VPN/remote into other non-Mac systems. I do not even use it to check email. Yes it is sad, but true I only use my Mac BookPro as dumb terminal or at best a netbook. I did use it once with a USB to Serial port to attach to a command console on a network device more as a proof of concept, but decided that the dongle made it too much of a hassle compared to a machine that actually has a serial port built in.
I often will now take my Mac BookPro to meetings, conferences, etc. just to blend in with the trend. It makes look like I am part of the Cool IT Pro Set. I secretly keep my “corporate build” notebook in my computer bag. Maybe someday I will give up my PC, but for now I use a Mac just to better understand the trend.
Posted by: David on March 20th, 2009 at 1:00 pmI blogged a whole series on this back in August 2005 when I made the switch. The bottom line was not security but usability and stability. In a nutshell, in the middle of updating my AV software something crashed and I was out of commission, trying to get things working again, the rest of the day. See http://blog.avolio.com/2005_08_01_archive.html starting with the 8/16/05 entry.
Funny thing… I have a bunch of kids and not enough computers at home. One of the computers they use is, of course, a PC. It runs slower and slower as spyware and who knows what ends up on it. (point and shoot). Some “need” a PC as they want to play Maple Story (no Mac client). Others who just want the web? I just got a used Power Mac G4. (I have another on order now.) Faster, no spyware concerns, and the kids know Macs from school. Eventually, I hope to convert my wife.
Posted by: Fred on March 26th, 2009 at 3:30 pm