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Where's A Good Mac Virus When You Need It?

by , 10:00 AM EDT, September 18th, 2002

I wish someone would create a widespread virus for Mac OS X.

Please hear me out before you call the proper authorities, or the guys with the rubber truck, to haul me away.

The Macintosh community is way too arrogant, especially when it comes to the dangers that viruses pose. How often do we hear about a Windows user who needed to do a complete reinstall, and then say to ourselves "Hah! That's why I use a Mac." We even brag about our perceived invulnerability and tout it as a feature to prospective Switchers. Sure there have been Mac viruses like the Autostart worm and SevenDust/666 but for the most part, they have turned out to be relatively harmless. We've certainly never been rocked by a virus like Kuang2, Klez.D or CIH.

In System 7 through OS 9 our near-immunity was largely due to the smaller user base and the smaller programming community. Most of the virus writing troublemakers didn't even waste their time learning how to code for the Mac, but OS X is basically Unix, a much more widely used platform. The larger programming community for Unix, a fact that was often boasted by Apple itself, could turn around and bite us.

These happy virus-free days are numbered, people. The day is coming when a malicious virus that is targeted at the OS X community will hit and hit hard. I guarantee it. With our collective guard down, It won't even be a challenge. How many of you take any steps to protect your OS X system from them? I'll bet that percentage isn't very high.

Maybe we need a scare. A widespread non-malicious virus would surely give us the kick in the pants we all so richly deserve and need. A little panic might remind us to closely inspect e-mail attachments and keep anti-virus programs up to date. In fact, I don't even own an anti-virus program so I am just as guilty.

Some measure of innocence might be lost. After all, it does feel good to believe we are the safest major platform on the market, but I'd much rather raise my guard because of a harmless annoyance than a deleted hard drive. We can still tout infection superiority while taking the proper precautions to keep it that way.

Observer Comments

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View Name:Guest
Subject: Wheres a Good MAC Virus
Close Name:LaurieF -   TMO Forum Mod Posts: 3499 Joined: 15 Jun 2001
Subject: Waaay after the event...but still relevant

I'm sure this isn't the record for a reply to an editorial (just over three years). However the original is still appropriate. I don't have a virus killer, but as soon as they start appearing I will immediately start being more circumspect, then do something more practical.

I think, dear Guest, you should go back and read Daniel's piece more carefully. He was trying to stop Mac users from being so cavalier about their computer security.

We have the advantage, not so much through obscurity, but through the sheer difficulty of getting viruses and spyware to propagate through OS X. I don't know for sure, but I would suggest that there are now many more OS X installations than OS 7/8/9 ones, and still there aren't any OS X viruses to shake a stick at. But there were OS 9 viruses.

I never want to run a virus killer - it sticks in the craw, and sticks in the OS and by definition slows the whole thing down. I'm remain naïve until then.

View Name:Guest
Subject: i agree
View Name:Guest
Subject: Virus for MAc
Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 2928 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Subject: Re: Virus for MAc

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
ima windows user

and often get annoyed with mac users

so id like to see a virus #@!$ up the mac os


Pull up a seat. Get comfortable.Enjoy the wait.
It may be a while.

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