On Sep 8, 2010, at 9:03 AM, Wallace Adrian D'Alessio wrote: > > And I read nothing of the current state of affairs to lead me to believe > this has changed. If Mac OS X infecting bugs are out there they exist to > sell preventative software. > > I'm sure Bruce or someone who must administer IT for a large installation > will set the record straight if this is wrong.
With the caveat that Anecdote != Data : I've been using Macs since 1987, and helping to administer a reasonably large institution's (mainly WIndows-based) systems since 1994. In all that time: There have been occasional "proofs of concept" malware releases for OS X, but they have never propagated very far, if at all. I've never seen one in the wild here. All the malware that our current AV systems see are 100% Windows-based. (and they do have the Mac malware profiles included) The ONLY stuff we've ever caught on Macs are Windows-oriented email attachments that came in on HD's from other institutions. I have *once* run into websites doing funky stuff to Mac-identifiable web browsers, that was about two years ago, and it didn't last very long. I've twice run into seriously malformed malware websites that have tried very hard to convince me that my "C:\Windows" directory was infected with a long list of nasty-sounding bits of software. I got the WDEF virus spread pretty nastily through my stack of System 6 floppy disks, which updating to System 7 cured. That's about it. I never got caught by the later classic Mac viruses because all you had to do to avoid those was turn of Program Autoexecution in the Quicktime Control panel. I've been told that you can occasionally find Word Macro viruses lurking about in old, moldering software and mailing list archives, although those may also be "...and then they found a HOOK in the fender of the car!!!" tales. I keep getting told by authoritative folks in the IT industry that there will be a flood of OS X malware "any day now"; I've been hearing that for ten years. Any day now. (and it's not a matter of market share...I've witnessed a bit of PC malware go around that was aimed at a specific firewall product that probably had a worldwide distribution in the low 10,000's of copies.) -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to imaclist@googlegroups.com To leave this group, send email to imaclist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist
