“According to one security vendor, Mac users are at a crossroads this year: if they prove to be as gullible as PC users, they will invite more attention by malware distributors,” Liam Tung blogs for ZDNet.
“At a time when spiraling malware threats have bombarded PC users, Mac users have been able to kick back and relax. 2007 saw 5.5 million viruses — including variants — on the hunt for vulnerable PCs, meanwhile threats to Mac users remained minuscule by comparison: two,” Tung writes.
“So far, threats to Mac users have suffered from having convoluted delivery mechanisms, which require a person to take big and careless steps to become infected — not only accepting candy from strangers but then inviting them home for a nightcap,” Tung writes.
“The DNS changing Mac trojan, while dangerous if installed, was one example of a virus undermined by a convoluted delivery mechanism. Unlike threats to PCs, which are increasingly transmitted via stealthily injected code from seemingly innocuous Web sites, this Mac danger relied on temptation, trickery and end-user permission… The other notable Mac scam was the scareware discovered last week — Macsweeper — which attempts to cajole a would-be victim into paying for software that guarantees to find a flaw on the Mac, but otherwise does nothing. Again, a little disconcerting, but I wonder how many Mac users, let alone daft PC users, would have fallen for this one,” Tung writes.
MacDailyNews Note: Those are not viruses. Computer viruses are computer programs that can replicate themselves and infect computers without permission or knowledge of the user. You know, like with Windows. A trojan is simply an application that tricks users into installing it by promising something other than what it actually does when executed.
Tung continues, “Then again, what constitutes a Mac user — thanks to the iPhone and iTouch — is changing… So maybe, just maybe, if Mac users fail the security test this year, it won’t prove that they are more gullible than PC users, but that the new recruits have diluted the security IQ of the Mac community, as a result of the mass immigration from PC world to Mac world.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: While some might fix our headline to read “growing lesions,” we think that those Windows PC sufferers who have already or will soon be making the switch are the cream of the crop (characterize the overall quality of that crop as you wish).
Of course, as the years go by, we’ll get more and more of the “everyone’s buying Macs now, so I will, too” types who will download malware, authorize its install, and run it. There is no way to protect a computer from an ignorant user. So, yes, our collective IQ will suffer someday (the price of success), but, on the bright side, the Mac community will continue to have the brightest and most creative users, as always.
As we often advise Mac users (and this goes for Windows PC sufferers, too): Do not install anything from unknown and/or untrusted sources.
Yes! They are.
MDN: “Welcome switchers. We think you are stupid.”
As for security, most Mac users – including me – are as irresponsible as PC users. That makes us smarter???
Yes, you can’t keep people from doing stupid things, it is human nature.
I just wish, as you do, that these idiot “journalists” would get a clue and learn about the subject matter and stop calling a Trojan Horse, a Virus.
I think long term mac users and new users are equally stupid… sometimes. Stupid can be understood as lazy.
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Just because someone isn’t well versed in PC or MAC usage doesn’t mean they have a low IQ. You can’t just pick one specific trade/category and judge everyones IQ based upon it. This article reeks of elitism.
Hopefully we’re skimming the cream off the top.
Pee Sea pond scum will continue to sink to the bottom and stick to the sides of the ever churning Windows Quagmire™.
Maybe they could teach some Mac users about security. As far as trojan horses are concerned, stupidity, as in all things, reigns.
If you buy a Mac because you don’t want to deal with PC viruses, you’re already demonstrating more responsibility than the average PC user.
this is an innane topic. it doesn’t matter who the user is. they come because there is something about it they like, or maybe even their rich uncle got them a macbook. as mac people, it’s been my experience that we have open arms and help new users, and we never call anyone stupid!
Mac users are just lucky enough to have been exposed to a Mac, and/or wise enough to see through the FUD.
@DanielN
I agree, the tone of this article is insulting to switchers and isn’t helping Mac users shed the stereotype of being smug and having a superiority complex.
Dumb article and dumb MDN’s editorial editing.
You’d think a tech writer would know the difference between a virus and a trojan horse. If “Liam Tung blogs for ZDNet” decides to switch, he would definitely lower the collective IQ of Mac users.
@DanielN
The quote about diluting the IQ came from the blogger, not MDN.
The issue is not a question of intellect but a matter of taste. Mac users have better taste. PC users don’t taste good. I’ve eaten one, I know!
The notion that we Mac users are more intelligent is a stupid one.
Some of us are, but the majority are a bunch of Steve Jobs lemmings buying up every toy, gadget and hobby he trots out.
Serious, mature Mac users should not be included with the kids and our group knows what to do about outside invasions of baddies without MDN having to explain the obvious.
We can only hope for the day when Steve understands the bonanza that awaits if he would just spin off the toy shop (and run it himself he he’s having so much fun with the merchandise) and leave serious computing to serious people.
@ DanielN and @madgunde
Please read the article a bit closer next time. MDN *actually* said:
“… we think that those Windows PC sufferers who have already or will soon be making the switch are the cream of the crop …”
This is pretty much the exact *opposite* of what you thought they said.
No wAy wood i by a MAC. yuo caNnt plAy Gamez. loosers.
Yoor optenshel. Or PaSin.TM
Apple needs to start a “Being Smug For The New Mac User” course at their Apple Stores.
“Some of us are, but the majority are a bunch of Steve Jobs lemmings buying up every toy, gadget and hobby he trots out.”
That comment in itself shows a lack of intelligence. I know some of the most avid Mac users there are and they do not buy everything Apple trots out, in spite of having the means to do so.
I wouldn’t blame them if they did though. it’s not Apple’s fault that their competition can’t seem to figure out how to make a decent product.
In all modesty, I really do believe that Mac users are better human beings … not just more intelligent, but also wiser ,kinder and even better looking.
Not that I look down on the ‘pee sea pond scum’ (nice one Mr Reeee), some of my most realiable servants have been PC-users, but then what do you expect from the lower classes?
In our organization where computers are personally chosen and personally owned, I have noticed that the PC to Mac switchers HAVE brought about a dumbness into the fold. They are not the cream of the crop, so to speak, but the ones that have gone from one brand to another to another and finally to Macs. Don’t know how to follow instructions to install Parallels. Run Time Machine while running Disk Utilities or calculating a spreadsheet; disconnecting the external HD while TM is running and then wanting to know what is the matter with Macs!
And that is just 3 users in one family. Other questions from PC users to me: Why do we need a backup HD if Macs are so good? Why do I need to get more than the basic RAM? (They want to run Japanese language and multiple programs including video Skype on minimum RAM). Their replies are usually, we didn’t have to do this with our PCs (but they bought a new one every year to 18 months!
YES I am seeing a dumbness!
I asked the guy in the next office who just switched from XP to a Mac Pro about this and his response?
Duh!
Doc4i: Is it like chicken? I’ve heard that they taste like chicken.
Zune – were you trying to post your message using an windows powered smartphone. Hate to tell you the result wasn’t pretty
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The reality is with the massive increase in Mac sales, the Mac user gene pool has probably been diluted 4 fold in the last couple of years.
I think it is a good thing and I assume Apple will always provide smarter options than M$ for its users to avoid virus and trojans. Macs are never going to be immune from them so a combination of a good OS and common sense will keep the risk to a minimum.
MDN, your arrogance and meanness astounds me. Someday you will reach maturity and understand. For now, continue as you may.
Both stupid users and testers find ways to break the software. The difference is that stupid users do it accidentally but testers do it deliberately and methodically. Mac fans act as Apple’s can only improve OS X.