A Fairy Tale for the Digitally Naive¶

Once upon a time, people believed Linux was Fort Knox, macOS was a walled garden, and Windows was the only malware buffet in town. Then reality arrived—wielding ransomware, zero-days, and a hearty laugh at our collective hubris. No device is sacred anymore. That “secure” Linux server? RansomEXX will encrypt it without even phoning home. That “safe” MacBook? LockBit now has a macOS edition, because even Apple users must suffer. And Android? It’s basically a ransomware piñata at this point. The lesson? Assume everything is vulnerable—because it is.

Linux: From Bastion of Security to Bullseye: Linux runs the internet (and your smart fridge), so hackers finally bothered to learn Bash. Why? Profit. High-value targets like NASA and the DoD use it, and where big money flows, malware follows. RansomEXX hardcodes its victims. Tycoon hides in fake Java updates. QNAPCrypt devours NAS devices. Even Erebus—a Windows-born ransomware—got a Linux port. The message is clear: Open-source doesn’t mean “open season for defenders.”

macOS: The “Walled Garden” now has a Gift Shop for Hackers: Apple’s “it just works” mantra works a little too well—for malware. ThiefQuest lurked in pirated Little Snitch copies. MacStealer pillaged iCloud keychains. JockerSpy turned MFA into a suggestion. And now, Living Off the Land (LOL) attacks abuse built-in tools to steal passwords and bypass encryption. The irony? macOS security relies on user passwords—the same ones phishing attacks snatch with laughable ease. Even Silicon Valley’s golden child isn’t immune to digital pickpockets.

The Universal Truth: Malware Doesn’t Discriminate: Forget OS tribalism—modern malware is polyglot and ruthless. StripedFly infects both Linux and Windows, mines Monero while stealing screenshots, and worms through networks like it’s playing Plague Inc. Porting malware across platforms is now trivial, thanks to cross-platform frameworks and the “write once, infect everywhere” ethos. The takeaway? Your OS won’t save you. Only paranoia with a dash of humour to stay sane will.