[ISN] Symantec CEO advocates fair play and Macs

Wed May 17 01:45:34 EDT 2006

http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-6072540.html

By Tom Krazit 
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 15, 2006

CORONADO, Calif.--It doesn't appear that Symantec CEO John Thompson's
next computer will run Windows.

"We think more people ought to buy them," Thompson said of Apple's
Macintosh computers, in response to a question from the audience at
the Future in Review conference on Monday. The "target-rich"  
environment created by Windows vulnerabilities means that virus
writers and hackers have set their sights on Windows PCs, he said.

However, Thompson noted that if more and more people did go out and
buy Macs, virus writers might change their tactics. And many attacks
are increasingly of the phishing or identity theft variety, which
targets computer users independently of their operating system, he
said.

"We shouldn't assume that any one technology at any layer is
sufficient to protect our notion of a connected world," Thompson said.  
Computer users and network operators need to take many steps to ensure
their data will be protected, regardless of which products they use,
he said.

All of Symantec's computers are standardized on Microsoft's Windows
operating system, a company representative said.

Security problems haven't gotten as much attention from the U.S.  
government as Thompson had hoped, although things have improved
compared with four years ago, he said. Still, computer "security has
fallen off the (government's) radar screen with budget issues and the
war in Iraq," he said.

However, Microsoft's move into the security software market has
clearly gotten Thompson's attention. "We are concerned (whether) they
will play fairly. If they do something that is unfair, then that will
be something that is difficult to compete against, but we'll have
other venues for making our point," he said.