Macs are no longer immune
If you are a Mac user, you most likely have heard about MacDefender (AKA, a pile of garbage). For years, Macs have been immune to attacks due to their low market penetration and small user community. In the past, from a virus writer's perspective, why aim at elementary school libraries and a handful of eclectic technologists when you can get credit card numbers and bank accounts from the millions of Windows users around the world. Well, those pleasantville days are over as
Apple outpaces the PC market with double digit growth.
This morning on the ISC Diary, there is an interesting write-up on just how easy it is for the average, non-paranoid mac user to be coerced into installing malware on their Mac. It is as simple as searching for "iphone wifi antenna" on Google and clicking on some of the images provided. Unsuspecting users are quickly whisked away to a page that looks like a Finder window and prompted with a beautifully sculpted CSS button that prompts the user for immediate action (AKA, get PWND).
Indeed, if you are a Mac user, your days of blissful paranoia-free web-surfing are over. Soon there will be sandbox browsers and anti-virus galore. The war of good vs. evil wages on.
Comments
Ignorance is Bliss
Time for the eclectic Mac owners to wake up to reality.
Can you imagine a Mac user in a coffee shop with strange music playing and sipping on a espresso when he or she searches for "iphone wifi antenna" and then PWND!
Mac
I will preface with, I'm not a Mac user
"Soon there will be sandbox browsers and anti-virus galore"
For at least 5 years I have heard people say and write the statement above. I wonder what kinda of timeline is being put on soon.
I bought my wife a MacBook 3 years ago, and she is far from eclectic, she is a middle school math teacher. My thinking behind buying the Apple laptop was that I could pay 500 dollars for a dell just as powerful if not more powerful then the 1000 MacBook, but when I get home from work do I really want to troubleshoot her issues? I decided to go with the MacBook based on the selling point that "it just works". I don't want to be troubleshooting some weird virus, so email issue or error. Much like how you get up in the morning and turn you car on, you just want it to work. It was a great investment. Not once did I have to do any sort of troubleshooting on that computer over the past 3 years. In-fact we took a long road trip one day and while I was driving she was created a DVD of her home videos with chapters and all that good stuff you see in professional looking DVD's. My point is the computer is issue free and is basically stupid proof, which is a luxury that many people are willing to pay for. Keeping with the analogy of the car Honda's and Acura's have mostly have the same engine in them. What sets them apart is the luxury in the car and the service you receive at the dealer.
Now guys, we being in the IT field we are the mechanics. We don't mind going into the junk yard and buying the 500 dollar truck to bring up and fix it up yourself. However, people like my wife neither have the skill or the time.
I kind of went off topic here.
"In the past, from a virus writer's perspective, why aim at elementary school libraries and a handful of eclectic technologists when you can get credit card numbers and bank accounts from the millions of Windows users around the world. "
Windows had more viruses then apple well before online payments became main stream. Your logic makes sense for the past 10 years but I'm not sure it would fit before then.