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Macs don't need an antivirus?

Discussion in 'The Alternative OS' started by 19ran69, Feb 22, 2011.

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Page 3 of 4

  1. Leeky TechSpot Moderator Posts: 4,344   +59

    As far as I am aware they're both making the same points, so its rather valid tbh.
    Leeky, Apr 3, 2011
    #41

  2. gwailo247 TechSpot Chancellor Posts: 2,105   +18

    Um...

    Why don't you read your post again, and then my post, and find me the instance where I was suggesting anything about what Caravel was saying. I was replying to SNGX1275. You're basically putting words into my mouth that by disagreeing with SNGX1275, I'm somehow putting words into Caravel's mouth.

    Now if you substitute SNGX1275 with Caravel in your original post you may have a point, but disagreeing with person A does not imply that I'm suggesting that person B is saying something different.

    So I'm going to stick by MY opinion that in a mixed corporate environment EVERY computer should have a AV (I'm going to assume that anyone using a Linux system at work knows what they are doing so they're exempt, but Macs, yes they should have an AV in a corporate environment, especially considering that you're average Mac user has the security sense of a naive four year old (Sure mister, I'd love that lollipop and I'll get into your dark van and help you look for your puppy).

    Most Mac users I talk to don't believe a virus would ever make it onto their computer, and if told that they need to have an AV to protect other computers in the network, they'd probably make some smug suggestion that perhaps everyone should switch to Macs and then they won't have any problems. Hence my Typhoid Mary reference.
    gwailo247, Apr 3, 2011
    #42

  3. Archean TechSpot Paladin Posts: 5,735   +27

    Archean, Apr 3, 2011
    #43

  4. Leeky TechSpot Moderator Posts: 4,344   +59

    It does, I read it some months ago as it happens - an interesting read it is.

    Ok, gwailo247...

    Yeah you have got me on this occasion. I thought (at the time) that SNGX had replied to Caravel, and you were continuing the conversation, which is why I also referenced him.

    That however couldn't be further from the truth, since it was in fact madboyv1 that was being replied to - I'm at a loss as to how I could have made such a mistake tbh. Sorry about that.

    That said, I stand by the following comments as a generalisation:

    I hope that clears it up - Sorry for the confusion, for the subsequent response (that continued it further) and for not reading up enough first.

    Having re-read everything, I made little sense in my (referenced) post, and it was waste really!
    Leeky, Apr 3, 2011
    #44

  5. gwailo247 TechSpot Chancellor Posts: 2,105   +18

    No worries, its all good.
    gwailo247, Apr 3, 2011
    #45

  6. lewisje Newcomer, in training

    Now that it has been easier lately for the Pwn2Own hackers to penetrate OS X than Windows Vista/7, and given the evident cluelessness of Mac owners, as demonstrated by the Mac Defender outbreak, it should not be long before drive-by downloads silently targeting the Mac via browser plugins (especially the always-included, rarely-updated, and often-vulnerable Java Runtime Environment) are widespread; I've heard mixed reviews of Sophos and I know from my brief time owning an old Mac that ClamXav sucks, so I hope that a good free anti-virus program appears for the Mac...maybe Apple will make one with low resource usage and few false positives in the vein of Microsoft Security Essentials, perhaps after acquiring an AV vendor (as Microsoft did with Forefront).
    lewisje, May 26, 2011
    #46
     

  7. superty12 TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 432

    Every OS needs an antivirus. There are several modes of infection a piece of malware can take that are ungoverned by the operating system. Email, browser, trojan, scareware, other software. The two in the middle I will explain, just in case. A trojan is a piece of software that claims to be one thing and does another. Scareware scares you into downloading a fake antivirus by telling you the computer is infected. Then it can make you buy their fake software or do malware functions.

    BTW, this thread is a flame war.
    superty12, Jul 2, 2011
    #47

  8. captaincranky TechSpot Addict Posts: 8,776   +277

    I have a question. Since Mac OS has a lot more programs that don't have to be installed than Windows. (".exe" ** type files that run as programs***, but don't need installing), tend to be rarer on Windows than on Mac. Can't this me taken advantage of by malware, and if not, why not?

    **(I think the Mac equivalent is ".dmg". Not sure though).

    ***(SIW being a notable exception).
    captaincranky, Jul 4, 2011
    #48

  9. Leeky TechSpot Moderator Posts: 4,344   +59

    To make system changes, or run scripts usually requires elevated privileges (e.g.root), which is why generally there isn't so much of an issue. This is true of all Unix, BSD and Linux OS', OS X included.

    However, someone blindly using the computer with root privileges, or entering the password to run as root without first questioning why they are doing so puts the system at risk.
    Leeky, Jul 4, 2011
    #49

  10. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,891   +117

    CC - I think leeky answered better than I could have. But to help your understanding of .dmg, thats really just something like a Windows ".iso" (or linux for that matter). The thing is, instead of programs for Macs (in the modern OS X era) coming as .zips, a lot of them just come as .dmgs, then, when OS X sees one of them - like if Safari* dls it or you double click one, they mount, just like it would in Windows if you put the install disk in (except no autorun*).

    * This kind of changed with that Mac malware thing that was such a news story a month or so ago. That may have done something like autorun, I honestly have forgotten how it launched. I do know that Safari has some thing by default (or it did) where it launched known safe file types. That is a pretty big security problem in itself and I'm not sure Apple corrected it, instead they probably only just added that file type to some known malware list - Apple's psudo built in AV.
    SNGX1275, Jul 4, 2011
    #50

  11. superty12 TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 432

    Well, even if you are savvy, someone else may not be. If someone not savvy gets infected and an infected file is shared with you... You get infected. If they're sharing a program they wrote that needs to be atcually installed... You get infected at the root level.


    Mac Defender
    Leap-A/Oompa-A
    superty12, Jul 5, 2011
    #51

  12. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,891   +117

    superty12 - I got confused trying to read what you wrote. I don't think any of what you said is true - care to explain?
    SNGX1275, Jul 5, 2011
    #52

  13. Leeky TechSpot Moderator Posts: 4,344   +59

    The same is true of any OS, Windows is no different to that definition.

    But you miss the point. 99% of the time the virus, or whatever nasty you care to list would simply sit there doing absolutely nothing, until either deleted, or passed on. In the case of being passed on, the receiver would have to take some form of responsibility for not taking proper precautions.

    But it doesn't mean anything anyway, because even installing media containing a virus is not going to infect a *nix system, regardless of whether you are running as superuser or not.

    Lets also be very clear here: Detecting the presence of a virus, malware, or spyware is very different to a system being infected with it. I could deliberately add viruses to my Linux system, even as root - sure a AV scan would find them, but my system wouldn't be at risk.
    Leeky, Jul 6, 2011
    #53

  14. superty12 TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 432

    And what happens if you get the other 1 percent? Every system has flaws that can be exploited. If the number of Mac users suddenly went up to 2 million, your "secure system" would be hit on with viruses, trojans, worms, you name it. Go back to my previous links. The time for an anti-virus isn't after something happens, it's before. A small free one will do you good.
    superty12, Jul 7, 2011
    #54

  15. Xclusiveitalian TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 587   +17

    My gf mac was just destroyed by a virus, still think you don't need it?
    Xclusiveitalian, Aug 15, 2011
    #55

  16. Leeky TechSpot Moderator Posts: 4,344   +59

    Yes, no Unix based OS, or Linux needs it.

    She's clearly very lucky and should get a lottery ticket - I'd love to know how a virus was meant to have destroyed it.

    Care to share details? Did it blow up? :haha:
    Leeky, Aug 15, 2011
    #56

  17. Xclusiveitalian TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 587   +17

    Xclusiveitalian, Aug 15, 2011
    #57

  18. Leeky TechSpot Moderator Posts: 4,344   +59

    I very much doubt it was a virus if I'm honest, but the battery issue is entirely possible.
    Leeky, Aug 15, 2011
    #58

  19. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,891   +117

    I'm not sure that battery vulnerability is out in the wild..?

    Sometimes batteries just fail, catastrophically, perhaps that happened? What leads you to think it was a virus?
    SNGX1275, Aug 15, 2011
    #59

  20. Xclusiveitalian TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 587   +17

    The computer still worked, extremely slow but worked and the battery wouldn't charge. So the battery just kept draining until it was dead. I think it was a virus because if the battary had died the laptop wouldn't have turn on. Plus my gfs other laptop(PC) always had a virus on it so i wouldn't be a suprise if she got one of this =p
    Xclusiveitalian, Aug 16, 2011
    #60
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