Mac: 'Serious' security flaw

Suddenly, Mac security is looking a whole lot more complicated. The worms, both discovered last week, are basically harmless, the second even called a "proof of concept" worm. But the security flaw, discovered this week, is being called a serious one by both the BBC and the Washington Post. Security experts say this is looking like a trend (Mac users, ask your nearest authorized dealer what protection they recommend). A German PhD student found the security breach in about 15 minutes after watching a discussion on German TV show Mac-TV in viewers called in to say it was "not possible for OS X users to infect their machines just by clicking on a link or visiting a Web page," the Post reports. Until Apple issues an update, the Post cites advice from the SANS Institute: "Safari users should consider disabling the option 'Open "safe" files after downloading' in the 'General' Preferences section in Safari." [For more on the worms, see my earlier post.]