Welcome to the party Mac..
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Apr 23, 2009
Macintosh computers are now being targeted by malware writers.
Welcome to the party Mac users. Your seat is right this way…
On April 1, Mario Ballano Barcena and Alfredo Pesoli claim to have discovered the first Mac zombie botnet in existence. The botnet stems from a Trojan horse embedded in a iWork ‘09 trial version that was making the rounds on file-sharing networks. The risk first came to light in January when security firm Intego warned of the potential threat hidden in the files.
I must admit that I am reporting this to you with a small amount of schadenfreude. I don’t have enough fingers on my hands to tell you the number of arguments I’ve gotten into with Mac users on how “stable and secure” a Macintosh computer is. Please allow me this opportunity to use this post as a soapbox for present and future arguments I may get into on this subject…
The real reason that Apple computers are more stable and secure with regards to viral and spyware attacks is for this reason and this reason alone: Mac users are small potatoes.
People lose sight of the fact that virus makers used to be kids in basements trying to see if they could program the next big inconvenience to the most people possible. Now, with the advent of spyware and pop-ups, the reasons are very clear: money and money. As long as there are web site marketers out there that will pay-per-click, there will be virus and spyware writers set on maximizing clicks by putting as many pop-ups in front of your browser as possible.
Now, if you were a virus/spyware writer looking to make a quick buck and you needed to strike as many people as possible in a short amount of time (until someone writes a tool that removes your handiwork), which platform would you choose? Would you choose a computing platform that has less than 3% of the desktop computing market, or would you shoot for the 90th percentile? The answer is obviously the highest percentage of computer users, and those are Windows users.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: Mac’s days of wine and roses are almost over. The bigger Apple gets, the bigger a target they will be for virus writers.
The worst part of all of this is when that day comes, the Mac faithful who have been computing in their iCoccoons won’t know how to avoid infection when it comes looking for them. They won’t be prepared for all of the pop-ups and all of the lost productivity hours that a serious case of spyware can manifest.
Don’t fear, Mac users – PCS will be ready to provide assistance when the day of reckoning approaches. We’ve been in the trenches, we know what you’re in for, and yeah, we can help.
See this scar? Yea, this big one right here? I got that back during the Sasser invasion of 2004…
Lest we not forget the stability of the Mac OS … at least Microsoft is making progress w/ Vista … I have used PCs since 1986 and a Mac since 2007 … they both have their individual qualities … the Pirates of Silicon Valley prevail!
When comparing stability between Mac and PC, there are some things to keep in mind:
1. Apple “closes off” its platform, which means that those software developers out there that want to create programs for the Mac have to go through a LOT in order to do so. With Windows, there are standards, but the standards don’t always have to be adhered to.
2. Vista’s doom was brought about by a lot of hardware vendors not having drivers ready when Vista was released. Microsoft was indirectly responsible for this by changing the hardware specs a few months prior Vista’s launch. When you switch to Vista and your sound and video cards don’t work, that’s a biiiiig problem.
3. “Stability” is inversely proportional to “freedom.” If I locked my kids in a closet, tied them up and put gags in their mouths, someone could label my kids as being “well behaved” and “stable” since they’re not making any noise or causing trouble. Conversely, if I take my kids to a playground full of other kids with jungle gyms to climb and swings to play on, then the “stable” label is replaced by “running” and “doing what they are supposed to be doing,” which is having fun.
(Boy, I hope this comparison doesn’t make me look creepy)
So, to sum up, Apple = closet, Windows PC = playground.
As for Linux, that’s just a big field in the middle of nowhere that allows you to build whatever you want ;)
I wanted to bring up 2 points. People complain about Vista’s User Access Control (UAC), which is annoying and MS probably over did it. However with Linux and Apple whenever ANYTHING gets installed it asks not just if it is ok, but for the system’s password. If you ask me that is where A LOT of the security comes from. Also of course the fact that OS X is completely locked down and gagged in a closet like Brian said.
Also I think Apple will need less of a market share to attract pop-ups and possible scams, because OS X attracts two types of people for the most part. Music people or very basic users who have money. If a person can target 90% of the market but not everyone there has a lot of money it doesn’t do them as much good. However Apple is A LOT more expensive than PC, which means that other 10% or whatever it is has more money to take. Why target China’s population that has little money? When you can target let’s say the UK which has much more money per person?
Watch out Apple users you aren’t invincible, just scarce.
[...] year, I wrote an article for this site entitled “Welcome to the party Mac..” where I tried to dispel the common myth that Apple computers were impervious to malware and [...]