Sophos today announced the availability of a free Mac anti-virus product for consumers, available to download at no charge, with no time limit, and requiring no registration. Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac is available free to Mac home users worldwide, protecting them against all known malware, including both Mac- and Windows-specific threats including Trojan horses, viruses, worms and spyware.
Based on Sophos’s flagship security software, Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac has been released in response to growing concern about Mac malware. A recent Sophos investigation into attitudes about Mac security surveyed 640 people, which revealed that 95% expect Macs to be increasingly targeted by malware in the future (September-October 2010). Although malware is far more common on Windows than it is on Mac, Sophos says that Apple’s growing market share makes Mac an increasingly attractive platform for malware authors and hackers to target.
“While most businesses recognize the importance of protecting their Mac computers from malware threats, most home users do not,” said Chris Kraft, product management vice president at Sophos, in the press release. “By offering free industrial-strength security to home users, we aim to protect Mac users against today’s and tomorrow’s Mac threats. Everyone knows that Macs are beautiful computers – Sophos wants to lend a hand to keep them that way.”
Past threats to Mac users have included:
• Websites that pose as legitimate-looking software vendor sites, but whose downloads are really Mac malicious code.
• Malware disguised as pirated software available for download from P2P file-sharing networks.
• Online video links that urge users to install a plug-in to view the content, but contain a Mac Trojan horse.
• Popular Twitter accounts, such as that belonging to former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, who have tweeted out links to websites designed to infect Mac computers.
• Windows viruses, which come in via email, web or USB drive, either being passed on to Windows-using friends or colleagues, or infecting virtual installations of Windows installed on a Mac.
“Most people don’t know that Apple acknowledged the malware problem by integrating rudimentary protection against a handful of Mac Trojans in Snow Leopard. But 95% of those surveyed are convinced that more is on the way,” explained Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, in the press release. “Wise Mac users will secure their computers now, outwitting malware authors – if we make their jobs of infecting Macs difficult, they will go elsewhere to make a quick buck.”
Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac provides automatic on-access detection that runs in the background, which means Mac users don’t need to run any manual scans to be protected against the millions of viruses, worms, spyware and Trojans in existence. Furthermore, strong disinfection capabilities make it easy to clean-up an infection should malware already be in place.
Requirements:
• Mac with Intel or PowerPC processor
• 256 MB of memory
• 150 MB of available disk space
• Mac with OSX 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Source: Sophos
More info and download link here.
MacDailyNews Take: The first hit (to your CPU cycles) is free.
@Saldin
Prove it.
As Apple computers grow more popular than ever, they’re an increasingly-enticing target for hackers. And these hackers aren’t just mischief-makers—by targeting your computer or applications you use, these criminals are out to steal and profit from your valuable personal information. Don’t let them. Get free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac today.
Can you say FUD!!
Halloween is over stop trying to scare Mac users.
As Apple computers grow more popular than ever, they’re an increasingly-enticing target for hackers. And these hackers aren’t just mischief-makers—by targeting your computer or applications you use, these criminals are out to steal and profit from your valuable personal information. Don’t let them. Get free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac today.
Can you say FUD!!
Halloween is over stop trying to scare Mac users.
Best AV ever: Mac OS X.
if you download a file yourself from any suspicious website that will delete your stuff, there is no AV that will protect you. the only thing you will have is more pop outs asking you: “are you sure?” and you will say yes yes yes.
I can’t really see the point of a Mac AV.
also I believe all AV companies have V department to create their own virus. Why do you think that for each malware, virus and worm in the market, there is only one different company which has the first solution, and the others take additional 3 days to follow?
^^
Best AV ever: Mac OS X.
if you download a file yourself from any suspicious website that will delete your stuff, there is no AV that will protect you. the only thing you will have is more pop outs asking you: “are you sure?” and you will say yes yes yes.
I can’t really see the point of a Mac AV.
also I believe all AV companies have V department to create their own virus. Why do you think that for each malware, virus and worm in the market, there is only one different company which has the first solution, and the others take additional 3 days to follow?
^^
@g4
BAd analogy. Since you need to give permission for malware to do anything on your computer, it is more like the crooks are driving through town and knocking on doors. You still have to be dumb enough to invite them in to have dinner.
As for all the things that show up under Little Snitch or Ghostery, no anti-virus software will block web embedded items. I just wish we had safari plug-ins to address these like there are in Firefox.
@g4
BAd analogy. Since you need to give permission for malware to do anything on your computer, it is more like the crooks are driving through town and knocking on doors. You still have to be dumb enough to invite them in to have dinner.
As for all the things that show up under Little Snitch or Ghostery, no anti-virus software will block web embedded items. I just wish we had safari plug-ins to address these like there are in Firefox.
I would warn you guys about the recently released trojan that is written in JAVA, thus, is cross platform, and can be loaded onto your Mac because it bypasses the web flag, so it doesn’t ask for permission to run.
I hope you all disabled Java on your Safari browsers, because it is being spread via web link and email.
As we get better at finding them, they will try to keep ahead of us too. Remember, WE have to find ALL of them, but THEY only have to get lucky ONCE.
I would warn you guys about the recently released trojan that is written in JAVA, thus, is cross platform, and can be loaded onto your Mac because it bypasses the web flag, so it doesn’t ask for permission to run.
I hope you all disabled Java on your Safari browsers, because it is being spread via web link and email.
As we get better at finding them, they will try to keep ahead of us too. Remember, WE have to find ALL of them, but THEY only have to get lucky ONCE.
@Truth, why should you waste cycles scanning for viruses that do not affect your machine? The bugs bite Windows; let them pay the malware tax.
@Truth, why should you waste cycles scanning for viruses that do not affect your machine? The bugs bite Windows; let them pay the malware tax.
Shadow
Learn English before you start throwing the “dumb” word around; “will realize that they boogie man can’t get them anymore.”
Shadow
Learn English before you start throwing the “dumb” word around; “will realize that they boogie man can’t get them anymore.”
Guy Kawasaki tweeted out links to malicious websites?!?!
To quote Jeff Spiccoli, “You dick!”
Guy Kawasaki tweeted out links to malicious websites?!?!
To quote Jeff Spiccoli, “You dick!”
“On-access scanning is your main method of protection against threats. Whenever you access (copy, move, or open) a file, Sophos Anti-Virus scans the file and grants access to it only if it does not pose a threat to your Mac. By default, on-access scanning is turned on and preconfigured with the recommended settings for protection. We recommend that you don’t make changes to the settings unless there is a specific need or problem that you are aiming to address.”
That is a lot of cycles!
The protection is like a virus itself!
“On-access scanning is your main method of protection against threats. Whenever you access (copy, move, or open) a file, Sophos Anti-Virus scans the file and grants access to it only if it does not pose a threat to your Mac. By default, on-access scanning is turned on and preconfigured with the recommended settings for protection. We recommend that you don’t make changes to the settings unless there is a specific need or problem that you are aiming to address.”
That is a lot of cycles!
The protection is like a virus itself!
@rwahrens,
It does require you to enter your admin password for installation.
@critic,
I’ve never heard of Ghostery before. Is it as good as Little Snitch? Too bad it only runs on Firefox.
@rwahrens,
It does require you to enter your admin password for installation.
@critic,
I’ve never heard of Ghostery before. Is it as good as Little Snitch? Too bad it only runs on Firefox.
why do you keep getting hung up on installation/confirmation? Both firefox and safari have proven susceptible to memory injection attack vectors.
do you believe that mac x is invulnerable to permission escalation?
why do you keep getting hung up on installation/confirmation? Both firefox and safari have proven susceptible to memory injection attack vectors.
do you believe that mac x is invulnerable to permission escalation?
most of the threats are:
pirates
web apps
and flash/java apps
all of which one should stay away from anyway
i’m not wasting any cpu time on this “anti virus” software
most of the threats are:
pirates
web apps
and flash/java apps
all of which one should stay away from anyway
i’m not wasting any cpu time on this “anti virus” software
Has anyone read the EULA?
Has anyone read the EULA?