(Column) - On Windows, the idea of finding security holes in the operating system is so commonplace that it’s completely ridiculous. When XP was first released, many users had more impetus to report these problems and stay on Microsoft’s case until they were resolved. The OS was relatively new, and we wanted to get the best possible experience out of it. After all, Microsoft continually touted the eXPerience that XP would make possible in its marketing campaigns, and we were going to hold them to it.

Of course, once the OS had been on the market for a couple of years, the enthusiasm began to die down, and people became settled in their ideas of what XP could and would offer them. Users who were previously outspoken and sought to help make Microsoft aware of the problems began to become complacent, and so did Microsoft.

Vulnerabilities were revealed on a schedule that ran like clockwork, but the sheer amount of them caused many to go unacknowledged for some time, and overall operating system fixes took more and more time to see the light of day. You can only fight the battle for so long, and when you realize that it’s hopeless, it’s easy to just give up and deal with what you can. Microsoft has the toughest road ahead of them when it comes to security vulnerabilities, but it look likes Vista will address many of the core issues that XP didn’t. Here’s to hoping for a more secure OS from Microsoft.

Although Microsoft gets the majority of the attention about discovered security holes, Apple shouldn’t feel like they can just weasel their way right out of the crossfire. They’ve been able to do it fairly successfully in the past, but their arrogant attitude makes them more of a target for public exposure. In trying to knock Apple’s cockiness down about one or eight notches, security researcher LMH and his team are planning to launch the Month of Apple Bugs starting in January 2007, and their plan is to feature an undocumented security hole in either OS X or another Apple application every day of the month.

"Oh, no! Run for the hills! We’re all going to die!" Um, not quite. Far from being terrified of what January will bring, Mac users should remain realistic and understand that even though 31 or so supposed security holes are going to be uncovered, that doesn’t mean that our computers are going to be attacked left and right. If you’ll remember, certain security vulnerabilities are nothing new to OS X, and even though these things have been exposed, there haven’t really been any noteworthy public exploits that take advantage of the problems.

With that said, OS X security will be more of an issue in January than it has probably ever been before, so we’ll just have to see what happens with all of this newfound attention. I’m not saying that you should strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride, but it might be a good idea to be within reach of the seatbelt.

If these security folks really cared about improving OS X security, then they would have sent the discovered vulnerabilities straight to Apple instead of publicizing them before Apple has a chance to fix them. One thing’s for sure, though - if any one of these publicized security holes actually leads to an attack that causes problems for a number of Mac users, then you can bet that the Mac nation will track this LMH guy down and flog him for the selfish way in which this information was distributed.

What does Apple have to say about all of this? Well, an Apple spokesman was quoted as saying, "We always welcome feedback on how to improve security on the Mac." Translation: "Bring it on." Hopefully, Apple will be quick to fix the issues once they’re unleashed.

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