Use Mac OS X? You need to read this.
15 January 2010, 12:14 PM
#1
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Use Mac OS X? You need to read this.
Apple (Snow Leopard) malware blocker collecting cobwebs | Zero Day | ZDNet.com
Looks too dangerous to use a mac at the moment
With the anti-malware function in Snow Leopard, Mac users were expecting new definitions via the Software Update utility but nothing new has been released in months.
Looks too dangerous to use a mac at the moment
With the anti-malware function in Snow Leopard, Mac users were expecting new definitions via the Software Update utility but nothing new has been released in months.
15 January 2010, 12:37 PM
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Too dangerous? Are you really being serious?
The DNS changer trojan requires you to download a file, pretending to be a video codec, and if you have things setup as the defaults, you will be asked if you wish to save/open the file. If you do this and run through the steps it is meant to change your DNS servers. Now, this setting is typically changed via System Preferences, specifically the Network Pref pane and that is protected, requiring an admin password to change settings.
Looking at removal instructions it modifies the root crontab, so that would certainly require admin privs, thus you will be asked to enter admin name and password when the installer runs, and if you're supplying that info, you should really know why you're being asked to enter it.
It's not as if this thing silently downloads and then silently installs, without any user interaction at all, unlike quite a lot of Windows based malware/trojans.
The bottom line, regardless of OS, don't download and install things from untrusted sources, and don't enter your admin name and password blindly, check what is asking for it and why.
The article goes on about the anti-malware feature of SL being rudimentary, well, yeah, to be frank, malware isn't really a big thing on the Mac, plus I'm sure the likes of Sophos and Symantec will sell you a fully functioning malware solution should you require one.
I'm NOT saying the Mac platform is 100 percent secure and free of viruses and malware, but it's somewhat better than Windows
The DNS changer trojan requires you to download a file, pretending to be a video codec, and if you have things setup as the defaults, you will be asked if you wish to save/open the file. If you do this and run through the steps it is meant to change your DNS servers. Now, this setting is typically changed via System Preferences, specifically the Network Pref pane and that is protected, requiring an admin password to change settings.
Looking at removal instructions it modifies the root crontab, so that would certainly require admin privs, thus you will be asked to enter admin name and password when the installer runs, and if you're supplying that info, you should really know why you're being asked to enter it.
It's not as if this thing silently downloads and then silently installs, without any user interaction at all, unlike quite a lot of Windows based malware/trojans.
The bottom line, regardless of OS, don't download and install things from untrusted sources, and don't enter your admin name and password blindly, check what is asking for it and why.
The article goes on about the anti-malware feature of SL being rudimentary, well, yeah, to be frank, malware isn't really a big thing on the Mac, plus I'm sure the likes of Sophos and Symantec will sell you a fully functioning malware solution should you require one.
I'm NOT saying the Mac platform is 100 percent secure and free of viruses and malware, but it's somewhat better than Windows
Last edited by Markus; 15 January 2010 at 12:41 PM.
15 January 2010, 12:52 PM
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One of the comments taken from that site:
Numbers according to Kaspersky:
OSX: 25 malware variants detected in 2009
http://www.kaspersky.com/viruswatchl...hour_offset=-2
Windows: more than 30 malware variants detected within the last hour!
http://www.kaspersky.com/viruswatchl...hour_offset=-2
Apple is by no means 100% secure but compared to Windows......well it's a no brainer really.
Numbers according to Kaspersky:
OSX: 25 malware variants detected in 2009
http://www.kaspersky.com/viruswatchl...hour_offset=-2
Windows: more than 30 malware variants detected within the last hour!
http://www.kaspersky.com/viruswatchl...hour_offset=-2
Apple is by no means 100% secure but compared to Windows......well it's a no brainer really.
15 January 2010, 11:09 PM
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I only use OS-X for web browsing now, but I do miss WinXPs functionality! Thisll make SNs Mac fanboys spit feathers I know, but I do come from an IBM background.....
16 January 2010, 09:21 AM
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