The truth about viruses for Mac OS X
An excellent article about viruses for Mac OS X, from the same author who wrote a note some time ago about what it is to be a Mac user.
The current article is interesting because it explains the current situation with malicious applications for Mac OS X at the level of common sense and at the same time without fanaticism. This article is recommended for reading, memorizing, and also forwards those who claim that under Mac “Full of viruses”.
The truth about viruses
Browse the internet for information about what is really happening with malware (viruses, trojans, worms, and other malware) for Mac, and you will stumble upon hot topics, half-answers and extremely convenient end-of-world statements. ”Issued by the manufacturers of antivirus software.
The problem is that there are very few places where you can study material on malware for Macs. But for many years I have been doing a “deep” study of operating systems, so I decided to fill this gap.
')
Before I proceed to the listing, I must say that I have been using a Mac for about 4-5 years, and before that I was closely involved with Windows and DOS. I must say that I have not come across malicious programs on any of the platforms for a long time.
This is how it works with malware on Mac:
01 Nothing is impossible to break.
As long as computers have some kind of contact with the outside world, and people create programs for them, there is a chance that some kind of malware will get onto the computer. Some source code may be more secure than other code, but there is nothing that could not be hacked (at least in the realities of consumer software).
02 Macs had viruses in the past.
Before the advent of OS X, there were a certain number of viruses that could infect Macs and do all sorts of unpleasant things with them, which caused their owners to squirm in terrible convulsions. However, the fact that Mac OS was completely rewritten during the transition to OS X, led to the fact that all these old viruses can not infect modern Macs.
03 At the moment, your Mac is safe
At this particular time in free circulation, there is no malware that could infect your Mac. No viruses, no trojans, no text loggers, no botnets, nothing. You can surf the net, read emails, chat in instant messaging systems until you're blue, and nothing harmful happens to your computer. However, there is a potential possibility that tomorrow morning someone will release a virus that exploits an unknown vulnerability in OS X, and by dinner it will destroy data on all Macs in the world connected to the network.
04 There are malware concepts
Yes, some people managed to create pieces of code that could harm Mac, but these things haven’t yet fallen into the “open world” and Macs in “real life”. And yes, many of them required some sort of mysterious movements in order to really do some harm to your computer. But they exist, somewhere on this planet, right now.
05 Mac OS X definitely has bugs
Most malware works through the use of software errors in the operating system of the computer. And Mac has its own share of errors, for which, as a rule, the most notorious or noticeable, Apple periodically releases operating system updates. However, to date, bugs in Mac OS X have not proved to be a sufficiently fertile ground for malware developers.
06 Unix inside definitely helps
Inside Mac OS X is the Unix version, and on top is a large amount of code written by Apple for all system services and the visual shell you work with. This version of Unix in the “real world” has been used for quite some time, and has become very safe, since many errors have been found and corrected over the years.
07 The presence of Intel does not change the picture
Some may be concerned that switching to Intel processors could make Mac less secure, since Windows malware was designed to be used on Intel processors (and compatible with them). This is unlikely, since malware is usually written using vulnerabilities in the operating system and not for the processor. However, this is a new approach, and it is quite possible that at this moment someone in his basement is inventing such a method.
08 Market share does not matter
It is often claimed that there are no viruses for Macs because they are a small part of the market. To some extent, this may be true. If you are writing a malicious program — especially if it’s part of a profitable botnet or spamming network — or you want to make a name for yourself, you will most certainly be targeting the largest share of computers. However, many developers of such programs also love fame, and what could be more interesting: write another 147 281st virus for Windows or write the first supervirus for Mac? Someone probably wants to give a good kick to the guy “Hi, I'm a Mac.”
09 Malicious money is involved in writing malware
Most “harmful” programs are currently used for two purposes: either capturing information from your computer (for example, collecting user names and passwords when logging into the bank’s website), or creating huge networks of thousands (or tens of thousands) of computers to generate spam and participate in DDoS attacks on various websites. In any case, there is a lot of money spinning around, and all this is far from being controlled by amateurs. And when there is an economic sense to target Apple users, they will definitely be under the gun.
10 Manufacturers of antivirus software for Macs?
Here I am a little puzzled. On the one hand, you spend your hard earned money on a program to protect yourself against something that does not really exist. However, on the other hand, you get two advantages: a) with a suitable program, you will avoid the transmission of Windows viruses from one confusing user to another; and b) when the real virus for Mac finally appears, you will already have a ready infrastructure to repel the attack, provided that you regularly update the database of virus definitions and the company has released an update for this virus.
And how I ask? Without any virus software, but I do daily backup just in case.
The translation is taken from the site Alexmak.net
The current article is interesting because it explains the current situation with malicious applications for Mac OS X at the level of common sense and at the same time without fanaticism. This article is recommended for reading, memorizing, and also forwards those who claim that under Mac “Full of viruses”.
The truth about viruses
Browse the internet for information about what is really happening with malware (viruses, trojans, worms, and other malware) for Mac, and you will stumble upon hot topics, half-answers and extremely convenient end-of-world statements. ”Issued by the manufacturers of antivirus software.
The problem is that there are very few places where you can study material on malware for Macs. But for many years I have been doing a “deep” study of operating systems, so I decided to fill this gap.
')
Before I proceed to the listing, I must say that I have been using a Mac for about 4-5 years, and before that I was closely involved with Windows and DOS. I must say that I have not come across malicious programs on any of the platforms for a long time.
This is how it works with malware on Mac:
01 Nothing is impossible to break.
As long as computers have some kind of contact with the outside world, and people create programs for them, there is a chance that some kind of malware will get onto the computer. Some source code may be more secure than other code, but there is nothing that could not be hacked (at least in the realities of consumer software).
02 Macs had viruses in the past.
Before the advent of OS X, there were a certain number of viruses that could infect Macs and do all sorts of unpleasant things with them, which caused their owners to squirm in terrible convulsions. However, the fact that Mac OS was completely rewritten during the transition to OS X, led to the fact that all these old viruses can not infect modern Macs.
03 At the moment, your Mac is safe
At this particular time in free circulation, there is no malware that could infect your Mac. No viruses, no trojans, no text loggers, no botnets, nothing. You can surf the net, read emails, chat in instant messaging systems until you're blue, and nothing harmful happens to your computer. However, there is a potential possibility that tomorrow morning someone will release a virus that exploits an unknown vulnerability in OS X, and by dinner it will destroy data on all Macs in the world connected to the network.
04 There are malware concepts
Yes, some people managed to create pieces of code that could harm Mac, but these things haven’t yet fallen into the “open world” and Macs in “real life”. And yes, many of them required some sort of mysterious movements in order to really do some harm to your computer. But they exist, somewhere on this planet, right now.
05 Mac OS X definitely has bugs
Most malware works through the use of software errors in the operating system of the computer. And Mac has its own share of errors, for which, as a rule, the most notorious or noticeable, Apple periodically releases operating system updates. However, to date, bugs in Mac OS X have not proved to be a sufficiently fertile ground for malware developers.
06 Unix inside definitely helps
Inside Mac OS X is the Unix version, and on top is a large amount of code written by Apple for all system services and the visual shell you work with. This version of Unix in the “real world” has been used for quite some time, and has become very safe, since many errors have been found and corrected over the years.
07 The presence of Intel does not change the picture
Some may be concerned that switching to Intel processors could make Mac less secure, since Windows malware was designed to be used on Intel processors (and compatible with them). This is unlikely, since malware is usually written using vulnerabilities in the operating system and not for the processor. However, this is a new approach, and it is quite possible that at this moment someone in his basement is inventing such a method.
08 Market share does not matter
It is often claimed that there are no viruses for Macs because they are a small part of the market. To some extent, this may be true. If you are writing a malicious program — especially if it’s part of a profitable botnet or spamming network — or you want to make a name for yourself, you will most certainly be targeting the largest share of computers. However, many developers of such programs also love fame, and what could be more interesting: write another 147 281st virus for Windows or write the first supervirus for Mac? Someone probably wants to give a good kick to the guy “Hi, I'm a Mac.”
09 Malicious money is involved in writing malware
Most “harmful” programs are currently used for two purposes: either capturing information from your computer (for example, collecting user names and passwords when logging into the bank’s website), or creating huge networks of thousands (or tens of thousands) of computers to generate spam and participate in DDoS attacks on various websites. In any case, there is a lot of money spinning around, and all this is far from being controlled by amateurs. And when there is an economic sense to target Apple users, they will definitely be under the gun.
10 Manufacturers of antivirus software for Macs?
Here I am a little puzzled. On the one hand, you spend your hard earned money on a program to protect yourself against something that does not really exist. However, on the other hand, you get two advantages: a) with a suitable program, you will avoid the transmission of Windows viruses from one confusing user to another; and b) when the real virus for Mac finally appears, you will already have a ready infrastructure to repel the attack, provided that you regularly update the database of virus definitions and the company has released an update for this virus.
And how I ask? Without any virus software, but I do daily backup just in case.
The translation is taken from the site Alexmak.net
Original article
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/14297/
All Articles