CTO of antivirus firm prefers Mac, Unix

The CTO of the third biggest antivirus firm revealed to me this week that an Apple Powerbook loaded with Unix is his "platform of choice".

During an interview with Dave Rand, CTO of Trend Micro, I asked him about threats directed at the Mac platform, especially seeing as Apple is gaining market share in the US and is likely, over time, to do the same on a global basis.

Even before I finished my question, he was reaching into his briefcase to show off his Powerbook, which he said was loaded with Unix.

Rand refused to comment on whether Trend Micro was working on a non-Windows based security offering but he did share his opinion on the relative insecurity of Windows compared with Unix and OS X.

"From my perspective [the Powerbook] is just another Unix box. I have been using Unix since earlier than I can remember and that is my preferred platform.

"It doesn't mean that Macs are impervious and it doesn't mean that you can't get people to install malcode on Macs. It does mean it is more of a challenge to write code that would interfere with them because it is a more secure environment," he said.

However, Rand did believe that if malware authors were able to make enough money by exploiting Mac or Unix users then they would find a way.

"The fact they are making so much money from these compromises means they will keep trying. If someone wants to install bad code on your systems then they will find a way," he said.