'Macs don't get viruses' myth dissolves before public's eyes
By Tim Conneally | Published August 28, 2009, 5:07 PM
Apple never said OS X was invulnerable to viruses. Well, not in so many words.
It's just one of those things that the media hungry --but security disinterested-- public has turned into an axiom.
But now that OS X is garnering an increased share of the operating system market, it is increasing its value as a platform for malware, and consequently increasing in value in the software security market.
The built-in security measures that have existed since Tiger (OS X 10.4) have been brought to a position of much greater prominence in Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). This week, there has been a considerable amount of discussion about two invisible anti-malware mechanisms which pop up any time certain Mac viruses are found (OSX/Puper, OSX/IWService.)
Security software company McAfee Avert Labs' Craig Schmugar pointed out that "the growth rate of malware (notably PC malware) is partly due to the success of defenses; the bad guys react and pump out more and more malware in an effort to circumvent those defenses. Apple's inclusion of malware identification into the OS could certainly be a catalyst for a more intense game of cat and mouse with virus authors, an ironic scenario should this come about."
Also, security company Trend Micro reports that the release of Snow Leopard has brought out a number of malicious Web sites where an OS X mountable Disk Image (.DMG) with malicious Install Operation scripts are being spread. Trend Micro researcher Ivan Macalintal found the most recent variant of this common malware last Sunday.
"The said downloaded script resets the DNS configuration of the affected system and adds two new IP addresses as the DNS server. As a result, users may be redirected to phishing sites or sites where other malware may be downloaded," says Trend Micro's threat definition.
Before you assume i'm a MS fan, im not, I use Windows simply because its the most useful and less limiting off the bunch, but I do wish a form of unix OS would kick its butt one day, but as yet they haven't. I'm sick of defragging, and cleaning up crap!
Security wise though, Windows is like that old trusty doctor who is faced with many viruses on a daily basis but never seems to get ill, because over the years he has built up a sturdy immune system, Mac is the little kid who has never been exposed to much, but the day he catches something, he'll drop like a ton of bricks, and it will be that doctor who has to pick up the pieces!!
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|Yet another pop-shot at the current king as a lousy excuse for journalism. Betanews is in danger of becoming another "Tom's Hardware" disaster.
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|lol internetworld
good luck (no sarcasm there)
I'm starting to wonder why there AREN'T any viruses for Macs out there yet... It's definitely not because the OS is virus proof, obviously. I'm guessing mostly because there is little profit in doing so, but there must be some kind of crazed Apple hater hacker out there somewhere...
well when it does, more money for the antivirus industry lol
On a second note, does this mean that currently I could go to every porn site in the world and not get a virus on a Mac(or at least not as many on a PC)? lol, that's pretty awesome
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|I see internetworld7 came to defend his beloved Mac. Too bad I can't read any of his comments..... well technically, I clicked "show" just so I could vote them down without reading them.
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|It's hard to blame Microsoft for the majority of the problems in some respects. 94.5% of the vulnerabilities come from 3rd party software on Vista. Microsoft software does not account for anything in the top 10. The worst offender is Adobe Flash. Other notable top ten software offenders are real player, adobe acrobat, and quicktime.
A lot of the problems come down to the end user. During 2008, 91.3% of Microsoft Office attacks exploited a single vulnerability that has had a security fix for 2 years. 100% of attacks against Office 2000 were against the RTM.
In the end, it is up to you to keep your system up to date and to take safeguards. A lot of the problems can be fixed if Windows users didn't run their computer in the default admin mode day in and out. If they truly wanted to prevent a lot of problems, they would do what a lot of the Linux installations do and setup an admin password and then anytime you want to do anything, you have to login as the "root" user. Window users typically don't do that.
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|The security problems that were just affecting Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, Flash, and Shockwave were related to security issues in Microsoft's ATL library that each of those products used since they developed the products with Microsoft's development tools.
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|Here is another Microsoft revisionist. Windows, through all its flavors, is the most insecure OS ever. Period. The problems stem from poorly designed and written code throughout the entire OS. Even with the "rewrite" of portions of the Windows code base for Vista, it is still fundamentally flawed...Active X, Registry, Internet Explorer, etc.... Windows is insecure by design.
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|What happened bousozoku...you read some article about MS ATL library and decided all vulnerabilities are due to that library? That's pretty funny...
http://mac.zicos.com/new...cal-Flash-Vulnerability
"Adobe has announced that a critical security vulnerability exists in the latest versions of Flash Player (v.9.0.159.0 and v10.0.22.87) for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, as well as in the authplay.dll component embedded in Adobe Reader and Acrobat v9.x for Mac, Windows, and various Unix operating systems."
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|Can we take an average score of a person's comments and anybody below a certain threshold gets a timeout for a few days? There are some people on here who just are obviously going to be negative and trying to pick a fight everytime they post something.
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|I think the interesting and perhaps the stupidest thing done by Microsoft (and indeed Apple) is to hide the file extension of known files.
Britney.jpg(.exe) where .exe is hidden fools idiots in to thinking it is a jpg. If extensions were shown all the time (as they were with win2000 and before) then perhaps (and just perhaps) viruses wouldn't be quite so prevalent.
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|I have to agree with this one, One of the first thing I do when I install a new Windows Box is to go into the Folder options and change this back so I can see extensions.
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|That's a security disaster and an annoyance for users too!
Nobody wants it actually.
The only thing is that if you want to change the name of something, the extension doesn't get selected with hidden extensions. (Which is nice because the extension isn't gone with the name when you start to type. Windows uses the extensions to know what kind of file it is.)
With Vista it's better, when I click on change name it doesn't select the last part with a dot. No need for file extension hiding with this proper behaviour.
I also change this to see all extensions.
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|Don't forget the hidden files!
Or they will come after you without you seeing it.
(A lot of malware is using this property to stay undetected from users.)
(Without it, a lot of users would be able to notice strange files that they want to get rid of, and will do so. Eat this anti-virus companies! )
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|Personally, I like the feature of hiding all the known extensions for the one reason bopb99 pointed out in that its a lot easier to rename files. But as you point out and Microsoft even points out is that this is becoming one of the biggest methods of attacks and wouldn't be suprised if this is addressed sometime in the future.
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|Don't know about myths, but I do know a few facts such as the 160,000+ viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, bots, etc etc infesting Windows.
I also know that on the Mac there are still no self-replicating viruses, no worms that bypass user intervention or spyware or adware etc - just a small handful of mostly harmless trojans.
I think you Windows users might need to hold off on your gloating as the apocalypse still hasn't occurred for Mac users.
-Mart
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|Uh, how do you think Windows users get a virus? They don't appear out of thin air, its from downloading things such as britney.exe or not keeping your system up to date.
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|@terminalx actually, with original XP (no SP) there were quite a few viruses that spread with no user interaction whatsoever. I don't know of any off hand that are around post SP1 though.
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|That was maybe the sasser worm or blaster worm, both which could have been prevented had people kept their systems up to date, I was working at Comcast when that day happened, people's pcs kept rebooting and the fix was to install the update from a month earlier, you only had 5 mins. A month later to avoid it happening again there was an additional update that was unknown to the creator of the worm that MS patched as well but as far as I know was never exploited...
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|no. It is from simply browsing the web, or using their proprietary Word, Power Point, etc... docs which are insecure by design.
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|Don't act like an idiot online, and be sensible with what you run and from where you obtain it. Common sense, regardless of your favored OS, is typically the best antivirus solution.
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|all of you who defend Apple and welcome malware/viruses and say things like Bring It On, need to step back... look yourselves in a mirror and wipe the dumba** off your face
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|This "virus" is in the DMG installation script. Of *course* you can do anything in the install script (the whole point of having one is so installers can do something more complicated than just move the .app bundle to Applications), but to affect anything system-wide, you'll need your admin password (a step up from most versions of Windows currently in use, by the way).
This isn't a virus by any modern definition; it's more akin to floppy-viruses where you'd have to actually run something to infect your machine. There isn't anything Apple (or Microsoft) can do to prevent users from running software they shouldn't be trusting--put bluntly, that's their own fault.
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|yep. but to the brainwashed Microsoft fanboi's, it is no different.
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|What do you think Windows users do? They run britney.exe or it can look like an actual program. Windows users get malware because of those free screensavers or toolbars they choose to install, viruses do not magically appear on your pc. They require user interaction. The only virus that appeared out of thin air was a security hole that was patched a month prior to an outbreak hitting, which is not MS fault people do not keep their systems up to date...
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|Or they simply browse the web and get toolbars, etc... installed. Or Outlook gets owned from simply viewing an email. So as many have already said, simply using Windows makes you very likely to get a virus or trojan.
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|The moment you keep saying they can't the more the underground will want to prove you wrong. I wouldn't boast, because some 13 year old in a basement somewhere just might make you eat crow...
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|You are safe with OS X from virouses up until (if ever), the market share of the OS X reaches 15%. Get my drift?
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|How is a bigger market share going to make a hole in the operating system that doesn't now exist?
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|@bousozoku - exactly. But the Microsoft propaganda machine loves to spin this fantasy.
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|OSX Leopard had more security holes then Vista did, that would be a hole that could be exploited, hence the patching...FYI... Also to note because of an exploit through Safari a hacker was able to take over a OSX machine faster then Vista in the black hat competition. All it takes is one...
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|Macs don't have virouses not bc they are invulnerable and contrary to the myths that mac-fan boys believe, apple has not invented such an OS. Macs does not have virouses,bc nobody is interested in writting a virus for an OS that has 4% of the market. Macs are just as vulnerable to Viruses, if not more than Windows.
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|EVERY operating system has security holes. It is virtually impossible to have any operating system on the market without them. Some ARE intentional in order to be able to drive the very lucrative anti-virus/spyware market. Others, however, are actual security holes and vulnerabilities. Anyone who claims their operating system is fully, 100% secure is lying. Even OS X, has security vulnerabilities, but it's low market share (like most *nix operating systems) keeps it from being a viable target. As market share and market penetration grows, so do the viruses.
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|Fatty, you are and always shall be a mindless idiot... So you honestly believe that OS X has no security flaws? And you claim Microsoft has spun propaganda... seriously? Can you really be this dense or is this some sort of act?
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|"OSX Leopard had more security holes then Vista did, that would be a hole that could be exploited, hence the patching...FYI"
ROFL. Oh, yeah i saw that microsoft sponsored study too. Kind of like those ones where they say Linux is more insecure, and they count bugs in every Linux program known to humanity, but only count the security holes in the TCP stack in Windows.
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|No software is perfect. OSX has its problems. So does Solaris, AIX, Linux, etc... Microsoft spends more on "marketing" its OS than all other players combined. That should tell you something. They know it is insecure by design. But they keep getting suckers to pay for their super expensive OSes. $49.99 for a five user license to a non-arbitrarily stripped down version of Snow Leopard.
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|We should take a poll to see how much individuals have spent on legit copies on operating system's over the years. Between Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, and 7, I only paid for the Windows 98 upgrade out of pocket. Windows 95 and XP came with my laptop and I optained Vista Ultimate and 7 Pro for free through various licencse agreements that didn't cost me any money.
You can tout the high cost of Windows Upgrades all you want, but in reality, most consumers are not paying those costs to upgrade.
And lets really get down to the facts, if you are upgrading from XP to 7 (skipping Vista), it cost only $119. If you ugprade from Tiger to Snow Leopard (skipping Leopard), the cost is $169. In these particular cases, it will cost the Mac user more to upgrade than the Windows user and most users utilize XP. Cheaper doesn't always mean better for everyone. Come on, a smart car is a lot cheaper than a Dodge Ram, but it won't tow my boat. Consumers are going to pick the OS that meets their needs in their mind the best regardless of the cost of the item.
But you never know, maybe Apple will drop the cost of the $169 upgrade a few months later after it entices the hardcore fans like it did with the iPhone :-)
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|The headline of this article is pure click bate. There are no viruses in circulation for OS X. There are a few PROOF OF CONCEPT viruses for OS X. The malware Apple is protecting against are trojan horses which are scarcely in circulation and ONLY affecting a miniscule number of dimwits that try and steal Apple software.
Don't let click bate articles like this fool you. You will always be safe on OS X.
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|I wonder if there is any point of discussing this with you? Ask those people who though they were downloading legit copies of foxit pdf if OS X is safe? Seems like OS X is not always safe...
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|lol that is so asking for a virus to hit macs...
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|Bring It On.
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|There are no proof-of-concept viruses for Mac OS X that work. Every exploit available either 1) requires authorisation to work or 2) doesn't go anywhere.
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|This implies that bulletproof code is possible. Which it isn't. Something as complex as an OS, just makes it even more impossible.
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|@rstat1: Could not have stated it better...
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|how long before Mac viruses become more prevalent?
just wondering..
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|Not very long... its all just a matter of time of course!
Macs are getting more popular so they are obviously going to target viruses at them, we ALL knew this time was coming tho!
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|I wouldn't hold your breath because I do not think it will be anytime soon. They still only claim a 7.6% to 10% market share with the higher numbers from Apple fan sites. I think it is going to be a while especially since MAC seems to be making slower inroads into the business market than the consumer market.
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|LOL. For the last several years alarmist like yourself have been claiming "it's only a matter of time". I guess one of these decades it just might finally come true.
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|Once again, viruses work without authorisation from the user. This is different from the big basket most people call viruses, which include trojans but trojans require that the user authorise their actions.
It's sadly humourous to me that the people being hurt by this latest exploit are trying to get Snow Leopard without paying for it. I believe the term is "poetic justice".
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|Ironically, the most Windows computers affected by viruses, etc. are pirated copies too.
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|You're not getting it. The Snow Leopard they're trying to pirate is not an operating system, it's an exploit. They only think it's the operating system.
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|Yea, lets play symantics, that will show those virus's who's boss
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|"Apple never said OS X was invulnerable to viruses."
LOL, tell that to all the Apple Cultists who I can quote as saying it *is* [invulnerable to viruses].
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|And notify all the pc sales staff that mislead customers by "selling off" of pc's to mac stating "there are no virus" for macs and apple products. one trip to any "best buy" and other similar stores will update you on what "is" happening or not.
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|The article is incorrect. The mechanism that it describes is not antivirus software. It is identifying trojans (at least at this point.)
Wikipedia has a good definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus
A virus is a piece of (usually malicious) code that is self replicating. The malware described are trojans. A trojan is a piece of software disguised as other software, in order to convince a user to run it (much like the Trojan Horse). The pop-up dialogs are intended to warn users that they are about to cause a trojan to run, not to indicate that a virus has been detected. There are no viruses for Mac OS X in the wild.
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