Plip's Weblog

is the Mac community stupid? YES

Read the comments on http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/06/05/01/0359225.shtml

> is the Mac community stupid?

No, They have generally been very intelligent and helpful (read through the other comments on my blog). Is the Mac community naive about security issues? Yes, some of them are.

yeah, see, i agreed with everything you said until you dropped the retard-bomb at the end there. you lost all credibility in one fell swoop.

Back in the early 90s, I worked on Macs for a major F100 company. Even back then, Macs were prone to viruses, more so than on WinPCs!

They don't seem to know that the first virus that used the internet to spread itself from one machine to another - what we know call a Worm - was running on BSD Unix. It was back in 1988 and it was called Morris.

More on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_worm

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MacOS X based on BSD as well? How can they pretend that MacOS X is immune by design?

Just funny...

Well, first of all, it's Mac, not MAC (it's not an acronym). The design of the Mac security model is such that it is far more difficult to load a harmful payload without user consent. Users (even people with the "Administrator" role) don't have low-levwl access to the OS (UNIX root access). Installing any program requires authentication even if you're in an active user session. That means that unlike a lot of the Windows vulnerabilities that have been exploited, Mac viruses and worms have to rely more heavily (if not completely) on social engineering and convincing a user to run and install the payload. In such circumstances, anti-virus software is basically useless. Also, while the BSD kernel is the core of OS X, it has been updated (as has the FreeBSD kernel) significantly since the days of Morris.

Mac has been immune to virus and malware for a long time - I don't think my opinion counts much - but that could be because of the 8% market share they hold. Or the fact that Mac users are usually NOT prone to excessive downloading... I could be wrong. Anyway that should change soon, Mac is switching to Windows OS.

"my two cents worth"

For even more good info like this take a look at the free info on software and all kinds of free antivirus stuff.

If your looking for even more information on PC security then I would head over here as they have plenty of stuff on identity theft, antivirus software etc.

my favorite one is "I’m certainly not going start bothering with security software until a real problem starts to present itself"

What an idoit. It is all about prevention. I have an antivirus on my computer and my system is clean so why should I have the antivirus. I have it on so I can stop a virus from doing any harm. Gosh it is the same way with smoking. The best way to do little harm to your body is NOT(prevention of) smoking. Same thing with computers. The best way to do little harm is to catch the virus early on.

No. Security with a Mac and Windows are entirely different. Let me use a house as an example. A System running Windows would be like a house, with all doors open, when a problem comes around the system will shut one of these doors. When a hacker hacks into a Windows system all they have to do is find an open door that has been overlooked by Micro$oft when they've released security patches. Macs are the complete opposite, they are completely locked down. When a user needs to do something like send or receive an email it opens the port needed for that, than immediately closing it. So Macs are not open to viruses in the same way, therefore a virus shouldn't get in without user interaction and WILL NOT affect low level access to the kernel. If you don't agree with these FACTS than don't comment unless you know how the operating system works and what viruses are.

Viruses are not and will not be a problem with Macs.  

mac security is largely due to to the habits of the user and the market share that macs currently hold no one is going to write a virus for a system that only 8% of people use in addition many mac users dont explore their machine and use it to its full portential.

it is this reason at the moment that macs are not affected by viruses because no one can really be bothered writing a program for something that only 4% really use

Yes, mac security depends on the user. If the user is unlearned and unaware of the sighs of a dangerous website/program, the mac will get spy-ware, add-ware, and viruses.

on the other hand, pc users especially windows 7, will have no problem as long as the have Microsoft Security Essentials which can be downloaded at this link:

www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials

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No Macs are more secure than windows due the permissions and high security level.There are less chances even rear chances a Mac get effected by any virus or spyware.Although it depends upon the user what kind of security he is using but Apple has provided a lot of security levels,its upto you whether you want to use of not....

We are talking from experience, or rather no experience with viruses. Think about it, both ways ;)

The Microsoft minions who never were forced to use a Mac and certainly is not about to betray their MS loyalty, must be the fanatics since they are forming their opinion on which platform to use based on faith rather than hands on experience. Can the same be said for most Mac users? Are they not often forced to use Windows at work? Are they making an informed decision based on experience or are they basing it on fanaticism like the PC users?

I had a talk with the Mac Support people in detail.

I was informed that any system is open to intrusions and no system is 100% safe.

I had my system infected within 3 days of purchase and it tool many days to get the thing back in shape.

A windows 7 PC , with all the software is far easy and flexible to re-install and get back in shape than a mac, inspite of its install dvds shipped with it.

Mac, to me, has proved to be a user's machine who does not wish to get too much done on his system.

Mac does get virus, spyware and malware for sure and I am still to find out a good protection for it. Apple care people cannot suggest anything. Most of them are really dumber than the MS support people.

Mac users are living in fools paradise, and they need to come out and see that their systems are good, powerful, yet open to threats to a greater extent.

Real security problems are just waiting to strike on millions on malware sites.

Wake up .....