The robustness of Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X against ARP cache poisoning based network attacks

Abstract

Robust security measures are integrated into new release versions of operating systems (OSs) to ensure that users have a more secure and reliable environment to run their daily tasks. In this paper, through extensive practical experiments, we evaluate and compare the effectiveness of popular versions of Microsoft Windows OSs and Apple Mac OS X in thwarting Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache poisoning attack in Local Area Network (LAN). The experimental results demonstrate clearly that all tested versions of Windows OSs and Apple Mac OS X are still very vulnerable to the ARP cache poisoning attack, and do not deploy built-in efficient security features to prevent the success of this attack. In addition, the experimental results directly allow to contradict the common belief that Windows OSs are always less security aspects compared to Apple OSs.