Your Thoughts on Apple as a Company

This is more a question on ethics than anything else. While the title may seem completely irrelevant to our little niche here, the actuality is a far cry from the truth.

I just read an article on Apple's growth dating back to last month and knowing Apple's stance on protection, I couldn't help but think of all the unprotected iDevices in the world.

I'm not just talking iMacs and Macbooks, I'm talking about iPads, iPods, and iPhones as well. Think of all these devices that, according to Apple, can not become infected.

Now think of all those people who heeded Apple's 'advice'. They walk away with a false sense of security and perform mundane tasks; from sending emails, to netbanking, to paying bills. All of these tasks form a single person's digital shadow, and going by the figures listed in the article, is a rapidly expanding pool of potentially unsecured information.

Now think to yourself, or even ask. Of all the people you know, how many of them own an iDevice? How many do they own? Do they use security? If not, why not?

Take that number of people you know and find the percentage who own an iDevice. Within that percentage, find the percentage who actually use protection on said iDevices. Until you come out with a result like this.

I know x people. Of that x people, 75% of them own an iDevice. Out of that 75% there are y iDevices. Out of those y iDevices, 12% are actually protected.

Yes, it's a crude test group. But it may help shed light to the sheer amount of iDevices that could potentially be unprotected.

I'm not the first person to think about this and I definitely won't be the last. But just think of the amount of information that could be right there for the taking.

What annoys me most about Apple is the fact that the company consistently shoves this misconception down the throats of consumers that protection is not needed on any Apple device.

I had a woman just today call me saying that her bank practically demanded she see them. While there, she was told that there had been 11,000 unauthorised transactions performed within the last week, all had been stopped, which cost the bank thousands. But it turns out that she had been using her iPad because she was told by an Apple representative that all security is irrelevant on Apple devices as they can't get viruses.

She was one of the lucky ones, her bank caught this activity and reverted all unauthorised transactions. But how many people does this affect who aren't so lucky?

This woman doesn't own a computer at all, just an iPad. She only bought the iPad because the Apple representative insisted she could do all of her banking safely from her iPad without any security at all or risk of compromise.

Probably what annoys me most is I know exactly who told her this. Through me, he is well aware that there are always system vulnerabilities and yet persists to tell people the complete opposite.

It's a blatant misrepresentation of truth by Apple and they're using their "trusted" name to garner more sales.

So I ask you, novice and seasoned hackers alike. What are your thoughts on Apple as a company? Do you agree with their misrepresentation of the truth? What is your reasoning?

ghost_