“The number of new pieces of malicious software has doubled in the last year with the web being used increasingly to distribute the code, a report says,” The BBC reporrs.
“In the first quarter of 2007, security firm Sophos identified 23,864 threats, up from 9,450 on this time last year,” The Beeb reports. “In the same period the firm said it was identifying 5,000 web pages per day infected with so-called malware.”
The Beeb reports, “While malware is a growing problem for users of Windows operating systems, there is little evidence of the problem affecting users of Apple Macs running OS X or PCs instaled with Linux.”
“According to the report, China hosts more than 40% of all websites containing malware. The United States hosts almost a third of all sites, while the UK has 3% of the sites,” The Beeb reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gandalf” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: First The Beeb promises to make their “iPlayer” Mac-compatible and now they go and get something right regarding personal computer security. What’s this world coming to?!
The iplayer isn’t compatible yet. They’ve started testing and I can’t join it. Tossers.
Holy cow, they are so bad at reporting that they can even get their affiliations straight!
That is certainly a change in direction for the Beeb!
First the Beeb, then Thurott!
Anyone who doesn\’t think the huge market share Windows contributes significantly to it\’s overabundance of malware is entirely inncorrect.
Mac OS X may be significantly better than WIndows at protecting a machine online, however at this time Windows exploits are lower than any other major OS. It\’s Windows huge market share that makes a \”mountain of a molehill\” of a exploit.
Of course right now there is a \”Vista lull\” as hackers change tactics and learn how to break the new OS. So we may (joyfully) get to see the cycle of malware return.
95% of exploits are in applications, as seen by the recent Java/Quicktime exploit.
Third party developers are driven by marketing deptarments to get a product to market, they are less concerned about your machines security as they already have your money.
Avoid installing anything using your admin password!!!
Want to download an install something that is useful and not malware?
Register, download, install and run it at:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/reg/viewRegister.do
I have setup a team here called “Mac Daily News.”
Currently, a small percentage of distributed computing is done by Macs – somewhere on the order of 2.6%. I know the market share of Macs is higher than that, so let’s show them that we are not as stingy as we currently appear to be.
Using Boinc, you can join multiple projects at a time. There are other good projects to join such as Folding @ Home. Whatever you choose to participate in, we should all donate our spare CPU cycles and show the world the power of the Mac. Currently, we are looking very meager, which makes us look smug to the rest of the world. Show the world that we aren’t.
Apache has greater market share of servers than Microsoft products, why don’t they have huge levels of security breaches?
Windows security is fundamentally flawed.
WiserGuy: however at this time Windows exploits are lower than any other major OS.
Oh, man, that’s funny! You should give up your day job.
WiserGuy,
Windows exploits are happening by the millions every day. There is less than 1 Mac exploit per month and that is done by a security expert in a controlled experiment under laboratory conditions with some measure of physical access.
Your problem is that you don’t know the difference between an exploit and a vulnerability.
There are still no Mac exploits out in the wild.
Quevar:
I agree with you – Mac users should share their spare CPU cycles for the good of the world.
World Community Grid use Boinc software, correct? Can one use Boinc and participate in Boinc projects without joining World Community Grid?
Myself, I’ve been running Folding@home 24/7 for maybe two years now. Before that, the old (pre Boinc) SETI@home since the late 90’s.
MW =Spirit – That’s the spirit!
@ Quevar: joined! thanks for setting this up and letting us know about it!
Qka: Yes, World Community Grid uses Boinc, which is a very nice app for distributed projects. You do not need to sign up to World Community Grid to use Boinc, but it is a good project. There are many other good ones out there that use Boinc.
I would actually recommend signing up for at least two. You can allocate how much time is spent on each one and if one of them goes down for some reason, you can keep working on the other one.
I just look at the stats for OS use and find it sad that there are not more OS X machines being used for this. It will just use the space cycles when you leave your computer on for lunch or whenever.
MDN: What’s this world coming to?!
The Apocalypse. It says so right here in Revelations. BBC is actually a secret code word for the Antichrist.
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As I have said in the past. Mac OS 7, 8, or 9 had over 50 viruses.
Those systems had an even smaller market share than OS X.
Hmmmm.
Quevar:
Thanks for the info. I’m afraid I’ll have to start my own group with the college’s name but you’ve just got almost 300 computers added to the cause singlehandedly (after testing of the software).
Beryllium: Beelzebub’s Boy Child?
What a shame the BBC’s headline was not that selected by MDN..!
Why would the BBC care? They’re one of the larger global corps. doing their level best to ensure that everyone is stuck using only Windows.
“there is little evidence of the problem affecting users of Apple Macs running OS X”
Or, you could say, “there is no evidence”.
@Twisted Mac Freak
Who knows? When you’re in the myth and fable manufacturing business, anything goes. There’s no superstition too outrageous for someone, somewhere to believe it.
Quevar,
Been running Folding@Home for a few years now. I used to run SETI but every time I reinstalled Boinc, it would screw up my folder preferences. Also, I’d rather “volunteer” my computer to help human kind and not find ET.
The BBC is a bandwagon-joiner of the nth degree. Now that Vista has received the reception that it deserves, the Beeb figures its safe to pull its head out of a hole and declare that the sky is still blue. Next challenge for the Beeb: explain how “behead those who insult Islam” does not mean “we want to live peacefully in the the UK.”
SETI is wasting their time. I’ve been living in Boca as a doctor’s assistant since 1982. My wrinkles and shortness isn’t a problem. I fit in nicely. We have flying wheelchair races and my glowing finger is a big hit at annual physicals.
“growing” problem??? Where have they been?
Chris Moore – that is awesome. I really just want to get more Mac users running it.
Oh, when, oh, when will we ever be released from the tired, old, thoroughly-debunked myth that “market share = virus writing?”
Sigh. Logic is a lost art.