When the SANS Institute, a computer-security training organization, released its Top-20 vulnerabilities last week, the rankings continued an annual ritual aimed at highlighting the worst flaws for network administrators. This year, the list had something different, however: The group flagged the collective vulnerabilities in Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system as a major threat.

"In 2005, they have about the same number of vulnerabilities in the operating system as Windows, but Microsoft has a much greater market share," Martin said. "The Mac OS doesn't deserve a spot any more than any other operating system."

SANS's Dhamankar stressed that the intent was not to call the Mac OS X operating system a threat, but to give Mac users a wake up call. If they have not been paying attention to security, then they should start today, he said.

"There are some people that feel that, if they are running Mac OS X, then all is well," Dhamankar said. "That is no longer true."

http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11359