Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!panix!MIX!Blackbird From: billy@MIX.COM Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Survey: OS X vulnerabilities to malware Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2014 16:38:13 +0000 (UTC) Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Lines: 68 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: panix5.panix.com X-Trace: reader2.panix.com 1393778293 6790 166.84.1.5 (2 Mar 2014 16:38:13 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@panix.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2014 16:38:13 +0000 (UTC) Xref: csiph.com comp.sys.mac.system:57369 Alan Browne writes: > Without getting into knicker twisting, please weight each statement. I'll just offer a few thoughts... > - it is very hard to infect any given OS X machine with malware That depends on who is doing it. As should be obvious now, anyone who wants to slog through the open sources probably would not have much trouble. For example. > - OS X is less likely to propagate a bug over a network, even if the > network is mainly OS X clients Less likely than what - Windows? Perhaps. > - It's easier to remove viruses from OS X machines. The filesystem is easier to grasp, but there are a massive amount of plist and xml files, and much of their contents are essentially undocumented. Not to mention many of these are buried deep inside various packages. So, if the above is true, it is not by much. > - It's harder to get a rootkit onto an OS X machine Maybe with more recent OS versions. > - OS X users operate mainly from non-admin accounts - so less vulnerable > to a serious virus I think Windows users have the same option...? > - the user is the weakest line of defense against malware Looking at crappy web sites seems to be the biggest source of trouble. The Web of trust add-on seems to be pretty good, although I've only had it running a few weeks now. > - OS X is not targeted because there are far more Windows machines And there are more Windows exploits from which to build new ones. > - Eventually, OS X machines will require A/V software to the same degree > as Windows does Maybe... > - Apple's existing XProtect is all that is needed to be safe Apple seem to be somewhat slow in keeping up with new exploits. > - _________________ is a good malware program for OS X (or NONE). Sophos. > Your own statements wrt OS X malware vulnerability: The Flashback (I think it was called) problem was a bit of a surprise. Everything is vulnerable, though, it just depends on how much effort someone puts into cracking it. Billy Y.. -- sub #'9+1 ,r0 ; convert ascii byte add #9.+1 ,r0 ; to an integer bcc 20$ ; not a number