Public attention on virus' for the MacOS are sure to please some people at Microsoft and possibly at security software vendors like Symantec and McAfee. Im sure there are a lot of folks who are sick to death of hearing Windows singled out for security problems and feel it is unfair to laud UNIX-based systems like the MacOS.
Computer security is an interesting topic. I will try to write a bit more about this soon but for now, here is the article.
'Worms' Turn on Apple Macs, Bigger Target as Sales Boom
February 27, 2006
Users of Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh computers have long enjoyed the technology equivalent of a safe neighborhood, where the viruses and security nuisances that bedevil far more common Windows PCs are practically nonexistent. Now, as the Mac is seeing some of its best sales in years, bad guys appear to be casing the joint.
In the past two weeks, information-security companies like Symantec Inc., Sophos PLC and McAfee Inc. have identified several security issues related to the latest version of Apple's Mac operating system, called OS X. Among the concerns: two "worms," programs written by unknown hackers that were designed to spread themselves to other Macs through Apple's iChat instant-messaging software and Bluetooth wireless-communications capability.
And in a reminder that Macs, like Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, also contain potentially worrisome security holes, a German graduate student last week discovered a vulnerability in OS X that could let a hacker install potentially damaging code on a Mac through the systems' Safari Web browser.
The two worms were innocuous compared with the most invasive and destructive programs that plague Windows computers; security experts referred to them as "proof of concept" programs. The worms didn't appear to inflict any meaningful harm on Macs -- they required users to go through several steps on their computers before being infected. Yet the appearance of the worms tripped alarm bells among some Mac users and security firms because they were part of a very small handful of malicious Mac programs, known in the tech world as "malware." Security experts believe it is only a matter of time before more-virulent forms of malware for Macs appear.
Security researchers say they have recorded between 100,000 and 200,000 viruses -- a term often used interchangeably with worms to describe malicious programs that spread by copying themselves -- for Windows and previous Microsoft operating systems. For Mac OS X, the number can be counted on one hand.
