Apple Tops Most Vulnerable Software List

According to a recent report by Secunia, Apple’s software has topped the list of software vulnerabilities beating out Oracle for the not-so-prized top spot. The report which focuses on the first half of 2010 shows that Apple had more reported flaws than any other vendor. Microsoft retains its third-place spot. Altogether, the top ten vendors account for some 38% of all flaws reported.

While this report does not take into account the severity of the security flaws, it displays that these software vulnerabilities are becoming more prevalent through third-party applications rather than the actual operating system.  For example, many of Apple’s flaws are not in its operating system, Mac OS X, but rather in software like Safari, QuickTime, and iTunes.

The same point can be applied to Microsoft.  The Windows operating system as a whole has become much more secure, however, additional or third-party applications, such as Mozilla Firefox, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, and Internet Explorer are the most vulnerable.  It’s also important to keep in mind that these applications security flaws are often patched, but due to the way update systems are designed and implemented, they often times require user interaction which can result in the updates not being applied.