“Over the weekend I found myself stuck in a local mall with hordes of bargain-hunting shoppers, and noticed for the first time a truly massive new Apple store where an old clothier used to be,” Brian Krebs writes for The Washington Post. “There were so many people in that place that I thought the dozens of Mac machines whirring atop gleaming white towers throughout the store were going to melt or burst into flames — the temperature in that place was easily 10 to 15 degrees warmer than any other store I’d been in. There could not have been enough machines in the stockroom to satisfy all the customers jostling for a chance to play with the computers.”
“Fact: Macs are coming down in price. Fact: More people are fed up with the incessant viruses, spyware etc. on Windows that switching to a Mac is more appealing than ever. My hunch: 2006 may turn out to be the year we start seeing a significant growth in the Mac user base, and with it, if not Mac viruses or worms, then at least some automated tools for attacking various Mac vulnerabilities,” Krebs writes. “I’m willing to bet that there are plenty of Mac users still running older or at least unpatched — and unfirewalled — versions of OS X (10.3.x). Take a growing user base and combine that with the complacency that comes with not having to fend off constant attacks, and it seems to me you have a fertile stomping ground for attackers.”
Full article here.
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MacDailyNews Take: No operating system is invulnerable, but users of Mac OS X are so much safer than users of Windows, it’s impossible to overstate the discrepancy. Some basic common sense advice: Don’t run Mac OS X as root and don’t authorize applications that you don’t understand or from sources you don’t trust. Use Software Update to keep your Mac up to date. Update to the latest version of Mac OS X. Use your built-in Mac OS X Firewall (System Preferences>Sharing>Firewall) if it makes sense for your setup. Run AntiVirus apps to screen out Windows viruses, so you don’t pass them on to Windows sufferers, if you’re feeling like a magnanimous network citizen. Don’t be complacent, but don’t get too worried, either.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple releases Security Update 2005-009 for Mac OS X – November 29, 2005
SANS Institute lists Apple’s Mac OS X as ‘major security threat’ – November 29, 2005
Computer columnist: anti-virus software purely optional for Apple Macs, not so for Windows – November 01, 2005
Microsoft apologists and why Apple’s Mac OS X has zero viruses – October 24, 2005
$500 bounty offered for proof of first Apple Mac OS X virus – September 27, 2005
How to avoid viruses and malware? Dump your Windows PC and get an Apple Macintosh – August 22, 2005
Do Apple Mac OS X users need antivirus software? – August 22, 2005
ZDNet: How many Mac OS X users affected by the last 100 viruses? None, zero, not one, not ever – August 18, 2005
16-percent of computer users are unaffected by viruses, malware because they use Apple Macs – June 15, 2005
Intel CEO Otellini: If you want security now, buy a Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC – May 25, 2005
There are no viruses for Apple’s Mac OS X – May 13, 2005
Apple touts Mac OS X security advantages over Windows – April 13, 2005
97,467 Microsoft Windows viruses vs. zero for Apple Mac’s OS X – April 05, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X is virus-free – March 18, 2005
Cybersecurity advisor Clarke questions why anybody would buy from Microsoft – February 18, 2005
Security test: Windows XP system easily compromised while Apple’s Mac OS X stands safe and secure – November 30, 2004
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
Information Security Investigator says switch from Windows to Mac OS X for security – September 24, 2004
New York Times: Mac OS X ‘much more secure than Windows XP’ – September 18, 2003
i Steve –
If you use MS Office, you may pass along a macro virus. Writing a macro virus that cause havoc on MacOS may be difficult, but a clever programmer could detect MacOS, skip the Windows specific codes which may cause a macro error and instruct the virus to infect other office documents, which you may mail to Windows users.
JPEG virus is another possiblity. If you don’t realize a JPEG file you received from a friend is infected, then you may pass it along to Windows userx. I believe similar problem exists for GIF and ZIP files.
More Mac users the better. Still waiting for those attacks.
Ok, the above answers help. I don’t forward emails from others — with or without attachments. Any JPEG files I send out are pictures that I have taken and organized through iPhoto. I do use Word & excel but if I send out any flies in those formats they are files that I created. Most files I send out are in PDF format. Do I still need to worry about this?
The one thing that these people aren’t discussing are the skills required to write a virus for OS X. Consider that the majority of the self-proclaimed “hackers” are nothing more than script kiddies using someone else’s tools. Most new viruses are really old viruses that have been tweaked to change the signature. It’s really just a bunch of unskilled boobs causing the majority of the trouble. Furthermore, the Mac community culture isn’t really comparable to the PC community culture, probably because we are few in comparison. We tend to take care of one another (though we may bicker) and the first sign of trouble is going to get squashed in a hurry. Don’t be lax but don’t sweat the small shit either. If you get an email with an attachment that you’re not expecting – don’t open it or pass it along. My antivirus is called common sense.
Maybe he should be worrying about the viruses left on the mice by people’s nasty hands. E. coli anyone?
Attempts? Of course there will be attempts of all sorts. But it’s kinda like the Big Bad Wolf trying to huff and puff at the brick house. Hopefully he’ll get tired after a while – but then again, it would probably be pretty easy to find lots of new, freshly ambitious wolves out there, so the threat won’t ever go away.
Actually seeing or experiencing a successful propagation of something malicious affecting the Mac OS? Seems highly unlikely at this point, especially if following MDN’s suggestions to keep that brick house strong and secure.
Gene, you don’t need anti virus software for your Mac.
Gene,
To show what a rediculous question that is (please, don’t be offended), I didn’t even REALIZE that you meant (A)nti (V)irus when you asked about AV software. I thought you meant (A)udio (V)isual software. I had already started a mental list of the software that I use when iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, etc. just don’t do what I need them to do.
Anti Virus software on my Mac? I stay away from it like the plague. I would especially hate to have every CD I put in the machine scanned for viruses that don’t exist. What a Colossal Waste of Time™
once upon a time someone convinced me to load Norton. UGH! it was a year before I got all vestiges of that piece of crap out of my system.
Gene,
Check out ClamXav. Free. Free virus updates.
http://www.clamxav.com/
My hunch: 2007 may turn out to be the year we start seeing a significant growth in Vista viruses and worms. There’s a precedent for it; there’s none for OS X.
E. coli is a bacteria strain, not a virus.
Gene. I too thought you were looking for Audio-Visual apps.
AV does not mean Anti-virus to a Mac user.
Matt: as I haven’t heard of any security update progressively slowing down a Mac, I think your analogy should be *better* guards, *better* surveillance, and titanium sheeting.
Granite slabs and rent-a-cops are a Windows analogy.
if majority of the Mac users do not use AV the very first Mac virus, which comes up, may be a disaster as the virus will be spreading very fast; should not we make preparatory steps now and and start using AV?
Evgeny – sure. you go first. let us know how it works out.
WindozeKiller, you write like Andy Inahtko (sp). The trademark gives it away.
There probably will only ever be 1 virus for OSX. the result will be such devistation and apocolypse that the entire world will shut down and the polar caps will melt, and as the human race blinks out of existance, our in-house MSCE will be doing the monkey-boy dance in the IT room chanting “it’s all Apples fault”.
but i could be wrong on all of the above.
Gene,
For AV software, there’s iMovie HD, iDVD, iTunes, Image Capture and GarageBand to get you started. Then there’s Motion, Final Cut Pro HD and Aperture if you’re into higher end stuff.
I don’t know why all these other cats were talking about virus software in response to your question. There really isn’t any for Mac, and all those that do exist only check for Windoze viruses (like how useful is that?) Maybe this is why it doesn’t sell very well!
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RainyDay,
I like it!
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Keep up the good work.
To Webmaster’s Apprentice:
I can tell you right now how it gonna be working out- just like it is now [we all know how the uninfected Mac does work]; but if any virus comes up i would like YOU to tell me what is it like to be infected!