18 replies to this topic

[mountaintree16]

I was just wondering if there are any Mac users here. I was talking with Exile about Mac rootkits and viruses, etc... and he gave me a couple of links from the Register, and I also found a good article on Sophos. I did see some links on Spohos for some downloads and Exile linked me to some Mac downloads on MajorGeeks

I have several friends with Macs, mostly laptops I believe, and I want to help them get some protection or something for their computer.

So my question is, for any Mac users out there or anyone with any experience with this or other knowledge, do you have a recommended program(s) for Macs to protect them from infection, and any on-demand scanners for detection? Any recommended free programs and/or recommended paid programs?

Anything else?

Any ideas and help would be much appreciated

[noknojon]

The problem with Mac users is the fact that most think they are 'bullet proof' - We may know that they are not but the info must be put out to them -
There are many ways that Macs can be hit if they are not careful -
As an aside - Is MBAM program (as written) also suitable for all Mac machines ??

[mountaintree16]

Yeah :/ I post about a virus or security exploit on my page, and a few people with Macs reply "glad I have a Mac!" I'm like yeah maybe this particular thing doesn't affect Mac but there are plenty that do.

I believe that MBAM is only for the Windows OS, but I am not 100% positive on that. I'm sure someone who knows for sure can give us a confirmation when they have a moment.

[catscomputer]

One of the shop assistants in my local electronics shop is a dedicated Mac fan. He said if I'd approached him for assistance when I was shopping for my current laptop then he would have convinced me to buy a Mac instead of a PC (for security reasons). His arguments for Macs sounded pretty good, I have to say. But since that conversation I've heard so many people (who know seem to what they are talking about) say that OSX is actually relatively easy to exploit compared to Vista and Windows 7, but the reason there are so few malware issues with Macs is because PCs dominate the market by a substantial amount. So I can't help wondering what is going to happen when XP support stops, and XP users migrate to Windows 7. When the majority of PC users are using Vista or Windows 7, I wonder if the malware targetting Macs will start drastically increasing?

[AdvancedSetup]

For me it doesn't boil down to security. It boils down to does it do what I want it to do. For me the Macintosh is a great system, as is Linux, but neither one provide me with the choice and variety of programs I like to use or play around with. I don't think anyone has true numbers but there have to be millions of shareware, freeware, pay versions of software for the PC and the Mac and Liunx combined are probably only in the low thousands.

Cutting edge 3D action games? Not on the Mac or Linux.

If you're happy with what comes on the Mac or what you can buy for it and don't want to venture into playing with other things mentioned then the Mac is probably a good choice for you.

[mountaintree16]

@ catscomputer

well Mac is less exploited due to it being a much smaller percentage of the market share but it is becoming more popular, especially due to the impression that many people have that it is not prone to viruses, which isn't true, unfortunately.

I actually was considering getting a Mac when I could afford one, because I was fed up with Windows-directed viruses. But now I know that Mac's aren't necessarily safe from these attacks either. I do like Mac though, but I am not as familiar with it as I am Windows.

Mac is a great choice for using it for certain things, just as Windows is great for using for certain things

Hopefully awareness that Macs can and are exploitable will begin to arise and people will realize that they need to protect their Macs and that NOT just Windows needs protecting

[exile360]

AdvancedSetup, on Oct 10 2009, 10:34 PM, said:

For me it doesn't boil down to security. It boils down to does it do what I want it to do. For me the Macintosh is a great system, as is Linux, but neither one provide me with the choice and variety of programs I like to use or play around with. I don't think anyone has true numbers but there have to be millions of shareware, freeware, pay versions of software for the PC and the Mac and Liunx combined are probably only in the low thousands.

Cutting edge 3D action games? Not on the Mac or Linux.

If you're happy with what comes on the Mac or what you can buy for it and don't want to venture into playing with other things mentioned then the Mac is probably a good choice for you.

Well, the most popular games are ported to the Mac (months or years later) and Linux has Wine, but not all games work with it.

My biggest beef is with Macs though, simply because even if I want to game on it I only have a very limited selection of hardware to choose from. If I really want to go high-end I have to spend like $10,000 on a loaded MacPro that's going to have features and components I won't even use, whereas I can build a comparably powerful PC for running games, video editing etc for $1,000-$3,000. Propriety is a pain in the ### for me, and that's the reason I won't buy a Mac. I'd much rather build a PC.

But I also fully agree about the availability of software, that's a really big component in the equation, and the selection of hardware available for Windows (that already has drivers without having to scour homebrew driver forums) is certainly convenient too.

[mona7865]

Mountaintree,

I found this at CoU forums:

http://www.calendarofupdates.com/updates/i...showtopic=22358

Perhaps you'll find some more information here?

[swagger]

@noknojon,

To answer an earlier question you posed, MBAM only works on the Windows operating system platform, starting with Windows 2000 and finishing with Windows 7 (for now).

[Firefox]

I have and use a MAC. I know that they are vulnerable as well, just not as much as an Windows computer. I do run antivirus on mine.

I found a free antivirus for my MAC iantivirus.com it is call iantivirus. Seems to work, and it updates from time to time. Of course it has not caught any infections, but that could be due to me not having any.

Edited by AdvancedSetup, 14 October 2009 - 09:00 PM.
Removed hyperlink

[mountaintree16]

@ mona

thank you for the link, I'll check it out later on when I have a chance

[mountaintree16]

@ swagger

Thanks for the clarification That's what I thought.

[mountaintree16]

@ Firefox

Thanks for the response

I'll do a search on it and see what I find.

[exile360]

Yep, iAntivirus is by PCTools. I'm not a huge fan of theirs but I do like the fact that they do offer basic freebies for both Windows and Mac users.

[mountaintree16]

@ Exile

Not a huge fan either, but its good that they offer for both OS's

I Googled the antivirus name and found a download.com / cnet link so I figured it was probably legit.

I was on the Apple website last night and they say that they have some built in features to help against viruses and malware, and while they say that they are 100% immune from PC designed viruses/malware, they do say that no system is completely immune from infection. I also found on their site, if its correct, that McAfee has been having a product for Mac since 2007. I'll do a little more investigating soon, but I'm off to a decent start, anyway

[exile360]

Quote

I Googled the antivirus name and found a download.com / cnet link so I figured it was probably legit.

Yes, I originally found it on the Mac software page at Major Geeks .

Quote

I was on the Apple website last night and they say that they have some built in features to help against viruses and malware, and while they say that they are 100% immune from PC designed viruses/malware, they do say that no system is completely immune from infection. I also found on their site, if its correct, that McAfee has been having a product for Mac since 2007. I'll do a little more investigating soon, but I'm off to a decent start, anyway

Yes, they are 100% protected from normal PC viruses, they are not immune to Mac designed malware though and their current offering of security features (even in the newest version of OSX) is very lacking. As for McAfee, yes, they make a product for Macs and so does Symantec (Norton). Kaspersky has one but it's been in perpetual beta for a long time now and I've seen no new developments on it for a long time now.

[mountaintree16]

@ Exile

I'm sorry, I must've missed that listing on the MajorGeeks link you gave me, sorry. I have it bookmarked, though.

Oh, I didn't know that Norton made a MAC AV. That's cool

Hopefully Kaspersky will come out with their version, eventually.

[exile360]

MajorGeeks Mac Antivirus Page .

[mountaintree16]

Thanks Exile

edit: I see that Avast has a version for Mac