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I remember a day when I had never had a virus, too! Yeh-hessss. A long time ago, it is.

Now everyone will wonder "was this person paid to write this glowing article".

Where does he get the "140,000 viruses" figure for Windows?

In any event, I like this part the most:

". . . Apple's big virus is really just the market enthusiasm that translate to new unit sales, spread like a contagion . . ."

Yes, I like that part very, very much. So does my portfolio. So does the Mac user inside me.

Now I just wish that mainstream publications like Time, Newsweek, or any of the others would carry this type of story. It would be soooo powerful.

After the stock fiasco a couple years ago that made news companies reveal who their parents and affiliates were or any investments they may have in the subject at hand, I won't be surprised to see articles starting out with "I was not payed or compensated for writing this article other than my standard wage or freelance fees"

This is the same conversation I have with my Patcher friends, ad finitum. It's like telling smokers, "If you quit smoking you'll extend your life and have a better quality of life." And they agree with you as they light up another menthol 100.

My experience is that people have to see it to believe it, hear say isn't good enough. Until they get their fat little hands on the product, it's just words in one ear and out the other. If you want to convert someone, put the product in their hands.

you know, I'm sorry but please NEVER say this again "Viruses don't have to be a fact of life; there are no viruses on Apple's Mac OS X - not a single one" because when one does appear people will be laughing in our faces. I cringe when I hear that just for pure logic that one could STILL be made.

To MDN:

I realize that you are trying to make a point, but I really don't think that the links are necessary...

I'm glad MDN continues to add that 512 megs is a necessary upgrade for the mini. I just upgraded to 1 GB and can't believe the difference in performance. My mini FLIES now.

There will never be a Mac OS X virus, AC. Stop waiting for the "first one"; you're wasting your time... How could a virus ever spread when an admin password would be required to let it do its work?

I know (MW) what this guy is saying, but I think he is taking things a little far.

He says "you can click on anything and never worry about malicious intent"...

Knowing a thing or two about the Mac, I'd never encourage anyone to be this lax about security issues. How hard would it be to bundle a malicious piece of code (note: NOT a virus, just a simple 'rm -rf /' ) in with some content you're offering on a P2P network, free software, pirated movies/mp3's, etc...

You'd better worry about malicious content. Not doing so is simply ignorance and arrogance - exactly what is needed to exploit the weakest link on OS X, the USERS!!!

To MDN:

Please allow expert with objectivity like the author of this article on "theRegister.co.uk" to be listen to. Do not spoil good articles with your 3rd grade comments.

One consistent article like this one does more than a site like yours full of crap ad banners.

Bob,
I agree with AC... No system is fail-safe.
What if there is a virus that exploits IE on OS X? Or another application that doesn't have the default security that OS X does?
There's more than one way to skin a cat!! (pun intended)

Bob,
Do you ever use the Terminal? have you ever used the 'sudo' command? this command temporarily authenticates you as 'root', the all-powerful UNIX user.

now, surf over to http://forums.macrumors.com/ and take a look at the topic over there regarding this issue. (or go to MSJ's security section) A proff-of-concept code has been introduced that could be packaged with anything (application/mp3/mov/etc.) that spawns a process which waits for you to manually sudo, or for your system to automatically switch to root (for the daily/weekly/monthly scripts, etc.) or for you to authenticate when installing some other software, etc.

once you do that, it hijacks your root authentication, and can do whatever is possible from there. now, this is NOT a virus. It is a security issue though. More likely classified as a trojan, because it requires a user's stupidity to get started...

how to fix it? Wait for Apple or IF you know vi, go to terminal and type 'visudo /etc/sudoers' without the quotes. In the "defaults" section, add these lines:
Defaults:ALL !syslog
Defaults:ALL logfile=/var/log/secure.log
Defaults:ALL timestamp_timeout=0
Defaults:ALL tty_tickets

this will :
stop processes from viewing additions to the secure.log, which tracks the usage of sudo
remove the 5-minute sudo grace period
limits sudo the individual ttys, instead of global authentication.

good luck.

I remember OS 7-9, and having "cultures" of WDEF, CDEF and other viruses on floppy.

Glad those days are over.

tommy, I agree that the user is the weakest link, and that malicious software is a real threat. Asking for Admin privileges to install something that intuitively shouldn't require such is (or SHOULD be) a red flag. Windows users are (from what I understand) de-sensitized to this though, because so many programs *do* demand Admin rights (so many that a lot of users run with them by default... a recipe for disaster) - a result of poor programming, either by the App author (laziness) or Microsoft (over-restrictive).

That said, it's always wise to keep an eye on things. Running tcpdump or ethereal the first time you fire up any given application isn't a bad idea, for example. And *always* question why something asks for a password. Common sense...

It has now been 3 years and 4 months since we installed our first OSx Mac. Since that time, we have replaced each and every Windows PC with OSx Macs, and we continue to work with all our clients who remain Windows based.

In those 3 years and 4 months, the Macs have NEVER had any sort of virus, trojan or data loss problems. We haven't had even one Mac hang or need a reboot - Not once.

The Macs just work - and allow us to do our work.

Thank you Apple.

bad news bear,

No one uses IE as their main browser but we are all aware of viruses exploiting the various apps in Microsoft Office. The answer, of course, is to avoid the Swiss Cheese that is any Microsoft code.

I realize that was not the intent of your post, but it is the answer to exploits of any kind on either platform.

I still don't get it. Even if OS X has no viruses just because it isn't as widely used--who cares? IT STILL HAS NO VIRUSES! It would take many millions more Mac converts for Apple to even get 10% of the market. Are people so arrogant that they think that their switch to Mac will suddenly bring a torrent of malware?

There is no objective way to evaluate the overall security of a system. Attempts have been made to classify systems based on security features, but features are only a small part of the overall security picture. The fact that a given OS lists "encryption" as a feature means nothing if it is so difficult to use that nobody bothers with it. Not to mention that there isn't a very useful way to tell which system's security is buggier than the other.

The fact that OS X doesn't have problems with viruses or spyware, while Windows does, is not inherently proof that OS X is "more secure" in any objective way. However, for an end user making a purchasing decision, it is at least a *useful* metric.

The reasons behind that are irrelevant to end users. For all they know it could be because viruses are often written in poorer countries where maybe people can't afford Macs. Personally I think it's an interface issue -- Windows is always throwing up dialog boxes complaining of this or that in detailed technical language, so people learn to just click OK. But until somebody figures out how to measure security, all we really have is the security record. So we may as well go on that.

My ten year old Performa came with Virex...that is the last virus program I've ever used. Not a worry or a thought so far. I am surrounded here at work by bug infested XP machines with constant
troubles and a smug smile on my face.

I keep my Windows Xp machine behind two firewalls (not including the POS firewall it has) I use web-based email and I almost never download attachments.

I only download software from source I trust. It has never had a virus.

Many people reject using these simple principals. Many people have an infested virus/spyware haven for a computer and as bad as it is reject the idea that there is a problem.

These people largely do not use Macs. If they did they would have the same habits. They would be safer from viruses, but trojans and spyware will inevitably get us too.

We just need the right kind of users, the dead-brained late-comers who refuse to take anyone's advise. They be Windows users and I hope for our sake they have Windows to use forever or until they are all dead.

Just a question to Terminal experts: for "sudo" to work, doesn't the user first have to enable the root account in Netinfo Manager? Isn't the root account disabled by default, making the exploit cited above impossible on most users Macs?

Security exploits are one thing, but viruses are entirely another... There will never be a virus on Mac OS X. Never has been, never will be. There has never even been a proof of concept virus on Mac OS X. Get used to it. Maybe if Apple implemented ActiveX on Mac OS X... LOL

Naraa Haras,

I do not keep my Mac OS X machine behind any firewall. I use Apple's Mail.app email and I always download attachments.

I download software from everywhere and anywhere, whenever the whim strikes. My Mac has never had a virus.

I do not have root account enabled (Mac OS X has it disabled by default), but sudo works just fine. You can even do "sudo bash"... The important thing to keep in mind about the trojan horse mentioned above is that it is neither a security issue nor a virus, but just a trojan horse. If you install software that was designed to inflict harm on your computer, sealing the deal by typing in your admin password, then you have nobody to blame but yourself - sort of like giving a stranger your car keys...

"I download software from everywhere and anywhere, whenever the whim strikes. My Mac has never had a virus." - Mac OS X User
You're apparently proud of your ignorance. True, you may never get a virus with your carefree attitude, but as Bob points out, there are other ways to be harmed by being naive or just plain foolish.

I think it would still be a sad day that Mac OS X finally got its first virus. Again, just an if...

But take a step back and look at both platforms (Windows and Mac OS).

Windows has something in the area of 95,000 or some insane number like that (I know that number isn't right, but you get the idea.)

The day that the Mac OS gets it's first virus? 1.

So the ratio presents 95,000:1. And yet, tech writers and pundits will slam the Mac for having a virus! But obviously, which is still the safer choice?

</preaching to choir>