Macs hit with malware, anti-virus company crows with inevitably inaccurate reply
The sky is once again falling for Mac users, with many now hit by the Flashback Trojan. The BBC reports that 600,000 Macs might be infected! But that also happens to be a figure well shy of the number of viruses that can screw up Windows PCs.
Ultimately, infection from viruses and malware continues to be a numbers game. Such things are extremely rare on the Mac but less so on Windows. Apple has since released a security update, but once again an antivirus company started stiring:
“People used to say that Apple computers, unlike Windows PCs, can’t ever be infected—but it’s a myth,” said Timur Tsoriev, an analyst at Kaspersky Lab.
I don’t recall ‘people’ ever saying Apple computers can’t ever be infected—that is the myth. And, of course, Kaspersky Lab would be thrilled if millions of spooked Mac users suddenly started using its products. But the reality is that even those Mac users who don’t have a clue about security will be less likely to be affected by trojans, malware and viruses than their Windows PC-owning chums, and with Gatekeeper for OS X Mountain Lion, such problems will become even rarer on the platform. It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft follows suit.
As ever, the best advice—on Mac and PC—remains the same: don’t open documents and files if you aren’t confident about where they came from and that they won’t screw up your computer.
The issue with this particular piece of Mac malware that has everyone up in arms is the fact that an unpatched Mac (or an older Mac ie 10.4 or 10.5) can easily be a victim of a drive by download, just by simply visiting an infected site. No Trojan horse trickery there. There are compromised “legit” sites serving this thing up. While I agree that safe surfing is a key, Mac users should probably start using antivirus now. That in and of itself is not a be all end all solution though. But now it is simply a piece of the defense in depth solution that needs to be added. Appropriately configuring one’s firewall as well as using a DNS solution like Open DNS (which is blocking this particular malware) is also important. Also, for this particular issue, if you’re on an older Mac like I am, disabling Java though the utilities folder preference as well as in Safari and Chrome is essential.
@Steve: I agree. My negative reaction was mostly at pundits claiming everyone always considered Macs invulnerable. That’s just hogwash—it’s just Macs have historically been rather free from viruses and similar crap. That said, the mooted figures were curious—MacUser UK was trying to find people whose Macs had been compromised and only managed to find one.
I was rather disappointed to now have to treat my Mac like a Windows box. I am also a bit miffed at Apple for their lack of support for 10.5. Granted, I should probably upgrade and eventually will, but I was hoping to upgrade by buying a new Mac in a year or so and not have to buy a boxes copy of 10.6 and then go 10.7.
I mean MS still supports xp after all these years. I at least was hoping for security updates.
Back to security though, this just shows that no system is completely secure.