“Mac users are facing an onslaught of security threats — and reacting to the malware is no longer considered a good strategy Taking proactive measures against phishers, spyware, ID thieves and other Web threats, like downloadable rootkits which infes operating systems, is the new norm,” Gene J. Koprowski “reports” for MacNewsWorld in an article with the would-be-funny-if-it-weren’t-so-sad headline “Developers Struggle to Defend Macs From ‘Zero Day’ Attacks.”
“During a conference call with reporters, experts affiliated with the SANS Institute indicated that there has in recent weeks been a “surge” in attacks on the Apple OS X platform. The growth in Mac vulnerabilities, according to Alan Paller, director of research at SANS, comes as there is a decline in the critical vulnerabilities found in Windows services. Part of the problem lies in the Web browser that many Mac users rely upon — Internet Explorer,” Koprowski “reports.”
Full “piece” here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re just going to stop the Koprowski BS Express right in its tracks at this random point of ridiculousness. Our stats show the browsers in use to access MacDailyNews (which obviously receives a high concentration of Mac users) in the month of April 2006 as follows: 63% for Safari / Safari RSS / “Mozilla Compatible Agent,” 13% for Firefox, 6% for NetNewsWire, 6% for Internet Explorer, 3% for MacReporter, 0.77% for Camino, etc. You get the point: even with a large group of Mac users stuck on Windows machines at work and using IE, our stats show just 6% accessing our site via IE (about which we’re extremely happy, BTW), so Koprowski’s statement that “many Mac users rely upon Internet Explorer” is as wrong as wrong gets – just like the rest of the FUD contained in his “report.” What’s Koprowski going to do next, an exposé on how it’s likely going to pour rain every day in Phoenix according to Arizona-based umbrella manufacturers and retailers?
Give us a break already! We’re not buying crap antivirus software for our Macs for no reason. If anything, run the free ClamXav, if you want to be a good network citizen and help protect Windows sufferers from their operating system’s inability to do so properly. More info and download link here.
Gene Koprowski is a UPI Technology Correspondent:
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Related articles:
ZDNet: Reduce OS X security threats – ignore security software – May 05, 2006
McAfee announces virus protection for Intel-based Apple Macs – May 05, 2006
BusinessWeek: New Apple Mac ads stir up Mac security overreaction – May 04, 2006
Unix expert: Mac OS X much more secure than Windows; recent Mac OS X security stories are media hype – May 03, 2006
Macs and viruses: the true story – May 02, 2006
Anti-Mac FUD machine shifts into overdrive – May 01, 2006
FUD Alert: Viruses don’t catch up to the Mac – May 01, 2006
BusinessWeek: Apple should hire security czar to combat uninformed media FUD – March 09, 2006
Spate of recent Mac security stories signal that Microsoft, others getting nervous – March 06, 2006
Mafiasoft: Microsoft to charge $50 per year for security service to protect Windows – February 07, 2006
Why pay Symantec for flawed ‘security’ app designed to protect Apple Macs from nonexistent threats? – December 27, 2005
‘Highly critical’ flaw in discovered in Symantec AntiVirus for Mac OS X – December 21, 2005
Why Symantec’s ‘scare tactics’ don’t worry Mac users – September 28, 2005
Motley Fool writer: ‘I’d be surprised if Symantec ever sells a single product to a Mac user again’ – March 24, 2005
Symantec cries wolf with misplaced Mac OS X ‘security’ warning – March 23, 2005
Symantec’s Mac OS X claims dismissed as nonsense, FUD – March 22, 2005
I doubt it is a real Mac news site. I have never heard of it before. And it looks like it was designed by IT guys, visually speaking. They should really know better.
Expect more.. the drum beat from the drive by Windows MS appologist press has only begun.
Wait until Apple starts really sinking its teeth into Windows marketshare…
MDN keyword “nothing” as in be surprised by nothing you read in the MS propaganda press.
“Part of the problem lies in the Web browser that many Mac users rely upon — Internet Explorer”
Okaaaayyy… This Paller guy obviously has no idea what he’s talking about.
MDN, I found your stats interesting. As I am one of those IE have to use Windows at work people. I visit here more from work than home. Only 6%, that is pretty good!
What a bunch of crap that story is. It really ticks me off because many folks will believe it.
I can’t tell you how many virus issues i have had with my various mac over the past 10 years . . . . .
Because I have not had any.
I sure know a handful of Windows Slaves that have had them though
MDN Magic Word: Taken
If you belive this, you’ve been taken.
This is a real . .
Oh sorry, I had to restart
Onslaught? WTF?
Does IE even work for the Intel Macs? Mine doesn’t seem to do much more than beachball and render half a page. That product isn’t even supported anymore. Apple needs to build a script that checks for IE on every startup and remove it without permission.
At my mega-corporation we do not see users with Mac-IE. A handfull of poor souls with Mac OS 9 are still out there, bless them.
A “surge” of attacks? The only surge I know of is the surge of Windows users switching to Mac.
Yep, the only time I use IE is at work.
“designed by IT guys”
That kinda sounds like the oxymoron “Military Intelligence”. Most IT guys I know don’t even know what design is, or they hate Mac users because a lot of them are designers and they know they could never be one.
OH MY GOD!!! MY MAC IS DYING BECAUSE WINDOWS PUNDITS SAY SO!
OH MY GOD!! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?????
Wait a minute..my mac has been online 24/7 for 4 years (except for the occasional hurricane outtage) and it has never been attacked by hackers or adware. That is it hackers attack when there are hurricanes!!!
I understand now!! I GOT IT! Okay everybody here is what we do. a) Disconnect your Mac from the internet whenever there is a hurricane over Miami. This is obviously when the hackers attack. b) Ask the honest hard working Windows pundits to run their OS X tests outside of hurricane season too so we can get average year round vuneralbility numbers.
Please tell everyone you know not to run their Macs when there is a hurricane over Miami. Also use Microsoft products b/c they do not ever succumb to 3rd rate hacker attacks.
Yeah, right. An “onslaught”! I see it every day – NOT!
This guy probably has Symantec stock or something.
It’s almost time to call IE “Internet Exploiter”? Almost time? Then criticize Firefox?
Where do the Mac users come into any of this? They talk about huge Windows threats, but I don’t see the Mac threats.
What does this have to do with the Mac?
“…an exposé on how it’s likely going to pour rain every day in Phoenix…
To see if it’s “going to pour rain every day in Phoenix”, I use Dashboard, which I am told is Exposé for widgets. It scrolls like butter!
Obviously this is run by PC users. There is an article from Enderle at the bottom. Plus read all of the “struggles to keep away from viruses” article titles. No Mac user with common sense would put that…at least not without being sarcastic.
there’s an Internet Explorer for Mac?! since when? i’ve never used it…
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The software this article is advertising doesn’t even work on the Mac.
“hitech@upi.com”
Sweet! Go get him MDN crowd!
I would like to publicly apologize for using IE to visit your site — but, during the day, that’s all I’m allowed to use while at the office.
An “onslaught”? “Surge”? Where? Show me, I wanna see!
The only HACKS I know of are the HACKS that keep repeating this virus, spyware BS.
SO Microsoft has all of its media cronies throwing FUD bombs. Why? They figured it works well for the DNC, so let’s employ the same strategery.
Now what have we learned about the accuracy of the mainstream press, boys and girls? Remeber this the next time some journalist tells you about “tax cuts for the rich” or “global warming” or anything else that leaks from their pens.
Here is the straight poop on the owner of this domain:
Whois Record
Registrant:
ECT News Network
15821 Ventura Blvd.
Suite 625
Encino, CA 91436
US
http://www.ectnews.com
This is a Microsoft FUD network. Spread the news that these peeps are foos.
Hey ev’ryone, I just read this on that totally PC-biased website with the horrible name of macnewsworld. It’s from Feb, when a sheeplike reporter named Erika Morphy wrote a quote from your typical scaremongering Symantec guy:
“[recent] events have encouraged the Macintosh community to talk more about malware, viruses and other online threats, which I think is a healthy discussion and one that is often dismissed too quickly,” Mike Romo, an anal. .