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Re: Anti virus for mac
mikelangelo11 wrote:
Viruses won’t affect your system
Well, malware designed to exploit Windows based systems likely won’t affect a Mac but there has been an increase in malware designed to exploit the Mac OS commensurate with the significant rise in the number of Macs out there. See this for instance. There have 52 Mac based vulnerabilities listed on this site since the start of 2010.
Last edited by joebaich (2010-03-29 12:15:23)
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Re: Anti virus for mac
I was told by a security expert that ClamX does nothing really but detect viruses which cannot hurt a mac anyway and slows down your machine – not sure if that’s true or not.
He also told me that Macs are pretty secure anyway due to the operating system and if configured correctly.
Set the firewall to not allow any incoming connections that aren’t required & turn off any services you don’t use.
See here for more info: http://www.securemac.com/
Again – I am no expert, just passing on things I was told :)
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Re: Anti virus for mac
Hello Tye,
I don’t want to diminish your expert but think this article, just a few days old indicates that he may be behind the power curve. If Apple is incorporating anti malware in the latest OS build, you have to believe that there is a credible threat. I think too, he may be underestimating what ClamX can do in addition to sniffing out Windows targeted malware. Even so, surely no Mac user wants pass on malware unwittingly to a Windows user.
I looked at the http://www.securemac.com/ site you listed and the first thing I saw was a two month old warning about a Mac targeted Trojan Horse.
Intego recently alerted users to the presence of a new variant of the HellRaiser Trojan Horse, which they identify as OSX/HellRTS.D. HellRaiser is a trojan horse that allows complete control of a computer by a remote attacker, giving the attacker the ability to transfer files to and from the infected computer, pop up chat messages on the infected system, display pictures, speak messages, and even remotely restart or shut down the infected machine.
It is worth reading this article which is balanced and its recommendations regarding an anti rootkit for Mac are good too. I think the bottom line is that Mac based TXP users should keep themselves up to date with the threat as far as practical and decide for themselves what they should do to mitigate it in relation to their particular circumstances.
Last edited by joebaich (2010-06-23 04:17:31)
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