BeerFiles is a sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator. Stan has been in the IT game for about a quarter of a century. He has seen and written about the rise and fall of more than a few IT players and made many friends, some of whom he has even crossed swords with on occasions. Everything in this blog is purely Stan’s opinion so if you agree, wish to expand upon, correct a post or tell Stan he’s a clueless know nothing, please feel free.

Anyone seen a Mac virus lately?

Written by Stan Beer

Thursday, 19 October 2006

Page 2 of 2 During the course of his article, Alex somehow made the jump from an iPod being used as a Windows virus vector to the insinuation that this was a warning that Mac computers could be targeted and infected by viruses at some stage. That's quite a leap to make without supporting evidence. It has been a known fact for some time that Macs, like the iPod, can be used as Windows virus carriers without being infected themselves. As security vendors (and one reader) pointed out, some Mac users actually use anti-virus software from companies like McAfee and Symantec just to protect Windows users from getting infected. Upon close examination of the article, there are two main areas where Alex seems to have got it wrong. One is the implication that Apple is somehow asleep at the wheel with respect to security. Nothing could be further from the truth. When professional Apple Mac security researcher, Tom Ferris, detailed seven security flaws in Mac OSX on his website in April this year, Apple moved quickly to apply fixes. Apple produces a widely used operating system based on Unix, which was designed from the ground up with security in mind. It is naive to think that Apple would not be thinking of security issues at all times. The second area where Alex appears to have gone astray is his implication that virus writers have only just recently focussed their attention on the Mac platform. While there is no hard evidence to support it, it is hard to believe that virus writers have not been trying target Macs for years. To successfully hack a Mac and infect it with a virus would gain a virus writer an unmatched level of notoriety that many of them crave. The fact is, however, that there has been no virus outbreak on the Mac OS X platform, despite the fact that many if not most users don't bother to use anti-virus software. Is it possible that a major virus Mac attack is on the way? Of course. Southern California could also break off and slip into the ocean but hopefully not while I'm at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco this coming January. {moscomment} Tags See All Tags Apple  Macintosh  security  Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject Valued at $99 USD Download the FREE iTWire desktop alert widget << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

 

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