1 in 5 Mac Computers Harbors Malware, Claims Sophos

[emjayy]

Apple needs to bring back Justin Long, the 'mac guy'
....so that he can star in a string of much-needed "Get a Mac Antivirus Suite" ads...

Ok, serious point here:
It's actually kind of amazing that mac users don't make use of antivirus software to detect infected files that manage to get stored on their machines for whatever reason. I use Ubuntu as my main OS, but I have Avast AV installed to scan all files that I occasional get from my Windows friends. Even though I can't get infections from Windows malware, I'm still aware of the fact that infected files will still show up eventually by way of flash drives and portable drives that my friends and colleagues share with me, and I should have a way to detect these infected files before I accidentally store them (especially on DVD-R) or share them with others. It's called common sense.

It will be interesting to see what impact Apple's "Time Machine" backup utility will have on reinfection rates. Some users of this software probably have some viruses stored in their backups.

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]shardey[/nom]A lot of commenters here with no regard to the difference between malware and a virus.[/citation]

A virus is a type of malware.

 

[dotaloc]

[citation][nom]aftcomet[/nom]Not surprised. The majority of users are technologically illiterate fools who make their purchasing decisions based on commercials and whatever is the flavor of the day.[/citation]
fixed.

hate to be cynical, but that is life.

 

[dotaloc]

[citation][nom]LORD_ORION[/nom]Truthiness;1 in 5 macs have malware written for windows sitting in their spam box delivered by e-mail.PS: Any up-to-date version of BSD is completely secure, it takes action from a user to infect this OS.[/citation]
wait. doesn't everyone (read: most users) use webmail? is stuff in your spam folder actually downloaded? mine isn't.

 

[molo9000]

Bottom line: Anti-Virus for OS X is still a resource hog and at best is going to find Windows malware.

With the exception of Flashback, all OS X malware are simple trojans, and the Flashback vulnerability was already patched. Having the right AV-software installed might have given you one or two days more protection, but that's it.

[citation][nom]dotaloc[/nom]wait. doesn't everyone (read: most users) use webmail? is stuff in your spam folder actually downloaded? mine isn't.[/citation]

Why would you use webmail if you have a good email program that makes managing emails and multiple email-accounts much more efficient and automatically tells you, if you have unread mails?

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Maybe the infection rate is so high for both operating systems because sophos doesn't make a good enough effort of keeping their users's systems clean ?
fep/mse is free too, and we're seeing an infection rate of 0,64% (8 systems) based on the last 24 hours. And those infections are no longer present.

 

[halcyon]

All this malware talk convinced me to un a full-scan in VirusBarrier X6 ...wonder if it'll find anything....

 

[dotaloc]

[citation][nom]molo9000[/nom]Why would you use webmail if you have a good email program that makes managing emails and multiple email-accounts much more efficient and automatically tells you, if you have unread mails?[/citation]
First of all, as I specified, I was generalizing for most users. I don't think I need to reference any statistics to know that I'm correct: the majority of email is accessed via webpage. Obviously, there are exceptions.

That said, I wouldn't try to tell you how to handle your business, but I have Outlook 2010 (and, Outlook Web App) for my work email (k-12 education IT), and gmail for personal stuff. The various 5 other email addresses I use for specific tasks all forward to gmail. I have desktop notification enabled. That setup works well for me, as I prefer the separation of my work and personal email.

The only advantage I can think of for a local client, for my uses, is easier multiple item select. Nevermind. I'd never used it...but shift-select works in gmail. I guess multiple select across 'pages' would be more of a pain.

While I'm backing up all my data regularly, I never get upset that I don't have to ensure my data is email is being backed up, like I used to have to do when I used Eudora. Additionally, If I saw (read: was distracted by) as many advertisements on gmail as I see with people who have yahoo mail, I'd be much more inclined to still use a local client.

I've only used Outlook and Thunderbird, recently, in case that is my problem.

 

[eddieroolz]

So Macs are the carriers for viruses 😉

 

[halcyon]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]So Macs are the carriers for viruses[/citation]
Why yes, yes our Macs do carry viruses. ...and your point is?

 

[scuba dave]

[citation][nom]dotaloc[/nom]First of all, as I specified, I was generalizing for most users. [/citation]

Generalizing for most PC users or most Mac users? There is a difference ;P

Webmail works, yes, but it is nowhere near as efficient as Outlook, or similar. And Mac Users love efficient. Easy-type efficient, but still efficient.

 

[Guest]

It is malware that infects windows, it cannot operate on osx, but it can still be there and it can still be spread to other computers even though it isn't functional. It seems to me that Apple has a market advantage if windows-based malware continues to spread. Anyway, this is a great information, thanks a lot for sharing your information that helps us a lot because we learned new things from here.

 

[sundragon]

Sounds like a thinly veiled attempt at selling products...