According to Apple Senior Vice President Craig Federighi’s sworn testimony given in a California courtroom, Apple’s computers, from its iconic iMac to the latest MacBook, are getting slammed by malware and viruses.
Craig Federighi said the company has a level of malware on the Mac that it doesn’t find acceptable. “It’s an endless game of whack-a-mole.” For every virus or piece of malware that Apple is able to stop or block, another several pop up. Federighi appeared as a witness for the defense in an ongoing lawsuit brought against Apple by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games,” said Craig Federighi.
Federighi compared the differences in the security of Apple’s computing platforms. Apple’s computers are “like a car,” he said, and that means users can take it off-road or wherever they’d like – for better or worse – whereas the iPhone and iPad operating system, iOS, needs to be usable by children and even babies.
In the lawsuit, Epic is attempting to force Apple to open its iOS platform to alternate app stores. Epic argues that iOS is a computer operating system and should be open to competition. Apple argues that allowing alternative app stores introduces major security issues.
The Mac operating system is less secure than iOS specifically because of its open nature. If users were able to download iPhone and iPad apps outside of Apple’s App Store, they would be open to a variety of security issues that Apple couldn’t review before use. This is due to the App Store’s review process, which offers a standard of safety across all iPhone and iPad apps.
