To this day, Apple Mac owners have always boasted that it was more secured than Windows run computers especially as Apple computers don’t use anti-virus programs. However, it appears that due to its increasing popularity, the once strong immunity to viruses and malware could be waning. Just recently, security experts are warning Mac users of an increased threat from hackers and criminals who now find Mac as a more attractive target.
According to Graham Cluley, a spokesman for Sophos – an online security firm, ‘there has been a marked increase in malware aimed at Macs in the past few weeks’ with many seeking to take advantage of its apparent lack of anti-virus protection.
Examples of scareware programs targeting Mac users is ‘Mac Defender’ or ‘Mac Protector’ which infiltrates a Mac computer through a fake Google images result or an Internet pop-up designed to convince victims that their computer is infected by a virus. Once this malware is downloaded (with or without the users consent), the machine becomes breached.
Mac users therefore now have to be careful about Websites being visited and beware of disguised programs that appear genuine for the Mac OSX operating system. Furthermore, users should double-check before actually installing any unfamiliar programs on their Macs.
Talking Point
Do you have an anti-virus program installed on your Mac?
17 Comments
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Sara
May 31, 2011 at 10:31 pm
There is someone at our office who is always boasting about his Mac being the best. I will definitely have to show him this article, because I knew it was only a matter of time before Mac was no longer invincible. Do you think this will slow down their sales any bit?
Admin
June 1, 2011 at 8:03 am
I’m not sure about Mac sales being affected cos as you well know, Apple followers are one of the most ‘fanatic’ ones out there.
Nawaz
June 1, 2011 at 12:11 am
It is a threat to the users of Mac.Now all users of Mac should go for security measures.
zain
June 1, 2011 at 2:12 am
Good and interesting information about the Mac users. Hackers are too technical persons that can make their paths.
rpb
June 1, 2011 at 10:45 am
Great! Everything was going so well for mac users!! 🙁
reeha
June 2, 2011 at 9:25 am
thanks admin for alarming us about these threats, now all the Mac application users will surely go for security measures. great helping post
Harvey
June 2, 2011 at 8:00 pm
The Mac world has expanded so this was laways inevitable. Macs ae still better in my view 😛
Gina
June 2, 2011 at 9:33 pm
No waaaay!!! Mac’s have been working perfectly and even the attractive “no anti-virus protection needed” has been a great selling point. I knew that technology was developing faster before my eyes, but this isn’t good. Is the protection necessary now?
Josh
June 4, 2011 at 5:45 pm
I’m glad I’m one of those “anti mac” user. My friend really wants me to buy mac before because it is virus free and no need to install antivirus. Sooner or later I’m really sure that mac will be a virus prone also because many hackers out there are really trying to be the number 1 to create virus/malwares for mac just for money.
John
June 6, 2011 at 6:10 am
people said that Mac is the safest os
the news disappointed me
Emma from Craigslist pvas
June 7, 2011 at 12:20 am
I was just thinking of buying a mac at the weekend aswell, maybe il wait and see what happens with these virus’s on them. I hope they can prevent virus on them and il go ahead and get 1.
arthurprudentt777
June 7, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Hi there,
I could not understand why the hackers where ignoring the Apple Macs in the first place, as the prices of Apple Macs show that owners have funds. It means that the hackers would have more food from the Apple Macs owners than from the owners of other brands.
Regards. Arthur
Naked Crook
July 27, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Join the club Apple…
Also…in the previous comment to mine…that is, without a doubt, totally incorrect.
It is called Market Share!
PC has roughly 90% of the consumer Market share. Apple and Linux make up the other 10%
Let the numbers talk. If you wanted to cause damage…which would you pick? Clearly…you would attack Windows OS.
Apple is sorely unprepared for the influx of viruses that will come their way. This is why Apple is being targeted.
joe
August 30, 2011 at 2:28 am
This one goes out to all the apple fanatics out there! watch out! lol..
kevin
September 19, 2011 at 7:52 am
can the rumors that they are the only ones that created the viruses in the first place? then they’ll create an antivirus of their own virus and boom! income! 😉
jimbolaya
January 21, 2012 at 5:25 am
Weak article. You are quoting a security firm that sells anti-virus software and probably wants to break into the Mac market. That’s hardly an unbiased source. First of all – MacDefender is malware and not a virus. I have been doing research to compare number of viruses for PC’s and for Macs, and there is no evidence of a single virus in the wild for the Mac. There is this one MacDefender malware that everyone is jumping up and down about, but it affecting maybe a thousand mac users. Which means that a thousand mac users over the years have been hit by any kind of exploit whereas around 10,000 PC users are hit by an exploit per day. The fact is that virus and malware writers are not targeting Macs. I’m not saying they are more secure, but virus writers aren’t targetting them. They already have expertise in compromising windows and a huge market as well as toolkits that make it easy to write viruses and malware. Also Mac owners tend to be better educated, and less likely to fall for malware. Remember that a dumb user has to click on the thing that is a pop-up window that says their computer is at risk and install the thing. For that reason, I think malware and virus writers go for the lowest common denominator which is windows.
Gerry
February 19, 2012 at 1:39 pm
The hackers will go where the largest numbers of opportunities are that take the least effort to exploit. The tablet computer and Android devices are certain to be big targets in the future.