The Mac Landscape: Full of Empty Threats?

[bzflag]

You know you love it...pretty soon it will just be a Mac theme for Windows...just for nostalgia!

My windows box does run a Mac theme. Just cause it's so much prettier than all those bright blue ugly menus.

I mean just fire up xp pro and a mac side by side right out of the box. xp is so ugly. yes i know im being girly about it.

 

[RyanS]

The classic Mac VS PC debate.... is as pointless as it has always been. Both systems are flawed in their own ways, both are better at performing certain tasks than the other. It is silly to say one system is better than the other. MAC's may be better suited at creating multimedia under certain applications, PC's may be better suited at other tasks.

It is simply pointless to try and steer someone else to use a system of your choice based on your needs.

 

[The General]

The classic Mac VS PC debate.... is as pointless as it has always been. Both systems are flawed in their own ways, both are better at performing certain tasks than the other. It is silly to say one system is better than the other. MAC's may be better suited at creating multimedia under certain applications, PC's may be better suited at other tasks.

It is simply pointless to try and steer someone else to use a system of your choice based on your needs.

That's all fine an dandy, but you can't deny the fact that 0% of Mac users are effected by malware. That's what this thread is about anyway.

 

[RyanS]

That is no longer true, as of Febuary this year Sophos anounced the first "MAC" virus. It's not a question of if MAC's can aquire viruses, it's a matter of when, and the when has already begun and will only propigate from there.

 

[The General]

That is no longer true, as of Febuary this year Sophos anounced the first "MAC" virus. It's not a question of if MAC's can aquire viruses, it's a matter of when, and the when has already begun and will only propigate from there.

I don't care about your lame proof-of-concept viruses that don't end up effecting Mac users. They don't count. It's not that Mac's can't be attacked by malicious software, its that they aren't. My fact still holds true, 0% of computer users are effected by malicious software, unless they are using Windows.

 

[RyanS]

Actually there are lots of Mac users that have been affected by some nasty viruses recently. If you do your research you will find that viruses have been found on Mac users that include backdoors, keyloggers & other malicious malware/virus programs.

That is why you will find many companies have developed anti-virus & anti-malware software for Mac OS, which would be rather silly on their part if 0% of users were affected.

 

[The General]

Actually there are lots of Mac users that have been affected by some nasty viruses recently. If you do your research you will find that viruses have been found on Mac users that include backdoors, keyloggers & other malicious malware/virus programs.

That is why you will find many companies have developed anti-virus & anti-malware software for Mac OS, which would be rather silly on their part if 0% of users were affected.

Right, at least post links. Telling me to do research doesn't make me wrong and you right. So post your links, and make them count because I don't have much patience/tolerance for your kind.

Companies write software to make money. If they can get some suckers to buy their software, then they make money. Anti-virus software existing doesn't prove that viruses exist.

 

[RyanS]

You can find many links, examples, stories etc. on http://www.google.com

Having the attitude you are completely secure is setting yourself up for trouble, there are no perfect computers & the more complex that computers get , the more oppurtunities malware writers will have to exploit code. To say any computer connected to the internet is 100% safe is just plain foolish.

 

[atomic tofu]

quick check of info on my part...cut and paste.

Malware:
"Opener"
01Apr2004~22Oct2004
Rootkit
http://www.macintouch.com/opener.html

"osxrk"?
08Sep2004
Rootkit
http://freaky.staticusers.net/ugboard/viewtopic.php?t=13891

"Togroot"?
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/72381

"WeaponX"
~05Nov2004
http://packetstorm.security-guide.de/filedesc/wX.tar.html

(Sony Rootkit)
~11Nov2005
Rootkit
http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/11/sonys-drm-now-for-macs-too/

"Leap-A"
16Feb2006
Trojan/Worm
http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/02/20060216005401.shtml
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102379
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-021614-4006-99

"Inqtana.A"
22Feb2006
Worm
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2006-02/0534.html
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-021715-3051-99
Source: http://www.digitalmunition.com/InqTana-ABC.tgz

"Inqtana.B"
22Feb2006
Worm
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-031413-1704-99
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/osxinqtanab.html
Source: http://www.digitalmunition.com/InqTana-ABC.tgz

"Inqtana.C"
22Feb2006
Worm
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/inqtana_c.shtml
Source: http://www.digitalmunition.com/InqTana-ABC.tgz

"OSX.Macarena"
02Nov2006
Virus
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/714
http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-110217-1331-99&tabid=1
Source: http://vx.netlux.org/src_view.php?file=machoman.zip

The lesson here? Macs can never have any infections and are not vulnerable to anything...OR it's just software.

 

[The General]

All I see are risk: very low, code freely posted meaning patches the next day, and I see 0 (thats right, zero) occurances of anyone ACTUALLY being infected just by doing their usual thing on the computer. Download and run it? Sure, then this would count as a Linux virus:

#!/bin/bash
sudo passwd root

0n0z I just wr0t3 t3h f1r57 1!nux \/!ru5!
It t3h changes t3h root password and hij4cks t3h j00r comp00ter!

Please, your pitiful Windows OS gets infected just by using Internet Explorer, and the most you could come up with as a virus for Mac's are proof-of-concept viruses that infect no one but the people who download and test it, that or lame worms that go through and destroy Windows boxes, and along the way do no harm to the Mac/Linux box. 0n0z! Here's t3h an0th3r V!ru5 and it's for Linux AND Mac!

#!/bin/bash
sudo rm -R /