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Average Mac User Faced Nine Malware Threats Last Year, but OS X Remains Minor Target
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Disagree heavily, I support some of the most tech ignorant in this country and I've only had one instance of malware on a Mac. Percentage for Mac purchases are about 1/5, which is considerably higher than global marketshare - I'm satisfied that the average Mac user does not suffer 9 threats a year but closer to 0.
Ah, OK, now I get it: you call bs on the numbers presented by Kaspersky, not on the fact that OS X hardly ever is plagued by malware.
I agree with the formeryour intended meaning100%.
Don't forget... market share describes the percentage of sales during a quarter.
Apple sold 5.5 million Macs last quarter... while the total worldwide sales in the PC market was about 80 million units. That would give the Mac roughly 7% worldwide quarterly PC market share.
The other figure we need to consider (and the one the bad guys really look at) is installed base.
There are 80 million Macs out in the world today... but there are over a BILLION Windows PCs.
Using that metric... Macs make up about 8% of the total PC user base.
Even though Mac sales are increasing... it's still taken them 30 years just to get 7-8% in either metric.
You're right... more Macs in the world would make them a bigger target. But I don't see Macs becoming 20-30% in my lifetime.
The bad guys are still gonna focus on the billion non-Macs out in the world.
Agreed, but being technical support the issues come to you rather than you coming across them
Kaspersky, the friendly Russian ghost...
I have no idea what the statement "the average mac user faced 9 malware threats" means.
What does it mean to face a threat? What's average?
I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean that, on average, we've all been successfully attacked 9 times. Does it mean we all received a few emails we were mostly smart enough not to click on?
One thing's for sure-- those geographic threat analyses are another great reason to move to Canada.
I have no idea what the statement "the average mac user faced 9 malware threats" means.
What does it mean to face a threat? What's average?
I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean that, on average, we've all been successfully attacked 9 times. Does it mean we all received a few emails we were mostly smart enough not to click on?
One thing's for sure-- those geographic threat analyses are another great reason to move to Canada.
The flaw in this argument is that OS X just another flavor of UNIX, albeit a very custom version. Still, it's just one of the many of UNIX-derived operating systems on the web. NONE of these UNIX-derived operating systems have anywhere near the security flaws that windows does.
There's tons of "bad guys" out there trying to compromise UNIX systems. UNIX architecture is just miles more secure than Windows NT's. That's the bottom line and that's why OS X has zero viruses and tons less malware than Windows does.
Don't get me wrong, no system is perfect or completely secure, but UNIX-based is way more secure than anything Windows based.
Average Mac User Faced Nine Malware Threats Last Year, but OS X Remains Minor Target
This doesn't ring true. Five people in our household each with computers. No malware. A dozen or more other family members outside our household with Macs and no mention of malware - I do tech for some of them. Hundreds of friends and acquaintances with Macs and no mention of malware.
This story sounds like Hype. FUD alert.
This doesn't ring true. Five people in our household each with computers. No malware. A dozen or more other family members outside our household with Macs and no mention of malware - I do tech for some of them. Hundreds of friends and acquaintances with Macs and no mention of malware.
This story sounds like Hype. FUD alert.
A friend of mine took a new mac to defcon, had like 3 issues total with the default OS X settings and after changing a couple of the network settings and that all the issues were gone and was able to browse through the public network there without any issues.
Yes... security is the other part of the equation. (I didn't mention security before... I was simply focusing on the market share aspect from the previous post.)
But yeah... not only are there fewer Macs to target, as I said before... the Macs themselves are very secure, as you just said.
It all adds up the Mac simply not being an easy target.
Bottom line... it's really tough to be a Mac malware author
You mean the list of 20 Mac threats that includes 5 Win32-specific pieces of Malware and several others that are platform independent?
While OS X does see malware from time to time, this list is bulls*it.
While OS X does see malware from time to time, this list is bulls*it.
I do have money to burn but I'm one of the most tech savvy people in my CS major. I reckon that I am immune to all things malware since 2008 and continuing.
What other ways, if any, are there to get malware on a Mac aside from social engineering that convinces the user to type the admin password so the malware is able to install itself?
It means "OMGZZZZZ look you're in danger, buy our anti-virus software that you don't need but we're trying to scare you into buying!".
As far as the argument about Mac people being less computer-savvy - I can only speak for myself but I used PCs since the MS-DOS days, built most of my own computers and was quite adept at troubleshooting hardware/software issues. I was "the computer guy" to all my friends and spent a lot more time repairing, troubleshooting and removing malware from other people's PCs than I did my own.
If I'm not as adept at troubleshooting on Macs, it's because I virtually never have to - peripherals work when you plug them in, no IRQ/driver conflicts or registry hacks to screw with, no malware/virus issues, etc. My Macs have been far less trouble than any Windows PC I ever owned.
From the point of view of someone who has had to deal with outbreaks
Viruses on Mac OS or Mac OS X
You can, with the freedom of speech that's allowed within Macrumors Forums, call bs on whatever you like. However, with respect: basing your call on those numbers does not validate the call.
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20464494#post20464494
More specifically: 2000 …
With Microsoft Windows
At least one subsequent outbreak of malware was terribly frustrating. When a person's time is wasted in that way, their outlook changes.
Viruses on Mac OS or Mac OS X
You can, with the freedom of speech that's allowed within Macrumors Forums, call bs on whatever you like. However, with respect: basing your call on those numbers does not validate the call.
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20464494#post20464494
More specifically: 2000 …
With Microsoft Windows
At least one subsequent outbreak of malware was terribly frustrating. When a person's time is wasted in that way, their outlook changes.
There are 3 Macs in my household(mother uses Mac mini). I probably know more about computers than 90% of the windows users I know combined.
Also, if anything, Macs make you more tech savvy when doing upgrades. Try upgrading the HDD of an iMac, or install an SSD in the optibay of a non-Retina Macbook Pro.
When people think PC, they automatically think of a tweaker and a PC Gamer that builds his own PC. In reality, the vast majority of Windows users are average jane/joes who need a computer.
Also, unless someone is purely buying Macs as status symbols, any Mac user knows that any high quality PC with similar specs and build quality will cost just as much as a Mac.
What's the difference to any other non-mac laptop?
Btw, i didn't have a malware or virus on my windows computer in the last 9 or 10 years. Now what?
*flies away*
Mac users better thank the tiny sliver of marketshare Apple holds in the marketplace for only having to face 9 malware attacks.
There I fixed that for you...
Posters who slag Windows off as 'insecure' and claim OS X has a lack of malware due to it being UNIX based have literally no idea what they are on about. They throw around the word UNIX like it explains everything when in reality, malware and viruses have been made for UNIX based systems longer than they have for Windows. In fact, there are very few true viruses around for Windows nowadays, the vast majority of them Trojans relying on users freely installing them through lack of knowledge, just like OS X.
In reality, it is marketshare that dictates how many malware attacks you expect to receive. Anybody who makes malware for a system that nobody uses is a complete moron. Especially when it is ad based.
In reality, it is marketshare that dictates how many malware attacks you expect to receive. Anybody who makes malware for a system that nobody uses is a complete moron. Especially when it is ad based.
Regrettably you're the one who comes across as having literally no idea what you're on about.
There are many, many, many real viruses for Windows. Cryptolocker is possibly the worst I've encountered. Not only that but there are hidden payloads in .scr files (screensaver), .doc, Excel attachments -- the lot. These are all emailed as attachments and none of them are detected as malicious items, even through VirusTotal. But run it and you're scuppered. There are payloads which automatically download and run Trojans in addition to a number of other nasties, just by exploiting Javascript, Flash, or through Internet Explorer.
If I may offer a gentle reminder that Internet Explorer is the default browser on Windows. Many people use it, and it's patched weekly to sort out the slew of security holes in it. The fact that you could just browse an infected website and unwittingly get a payload downloaded/installed in the background isn't a virus to you? It's a very real, and very common, issue.
The additional truth of the matter is that Windows, under-the-hood, has practically remained unchanged for 2 decades. The registry layout in Windows 8.1 is almost identical to how it was in Windows 95. It's very, very easy to attack the registry and edit changes. I mean changes in terms of adding a payload to when explorer.exe runs, simply by hitching on an executable file or run a download with the shell hidden, so it's all going on in the background with 0 knowledge or permission from the user. A lot of the nasty Metropolitan Police viruses (not malware, viruses) do this. It also means that if you're logging in through Safe Mode it'll automatically shut down the computer. That's through HKLM or HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon, for your future reference.
Jesus, I don't even want to get started on services being deleted in the registry, firewall entries being deleted, Internet Explorer being bricked, and the ZeroAccess changes that are soooo frustrating to fix.
Microsoft have an obligation to supply an incomprehensible amount of backwards compatibility due to how long they've been in the business and how many people rely on their software. This alone opens up a wealth of security problems.
I can go on, and on, and on, and give you multiple examples how Windows security issues are not just from people downloading malware. However I feel I may just be wasting my time, thanks to your general (and I'm assuming unfounded) assumption that it's a marketshare/malware issue.
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Add in iOS, which is a variant of OS X, and it's a different story, hm?
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Horsepucky. How do you explain iOS? It's a trimmed version of OS X.
Security-through-obscurity left the building in 2007.
Yes
Yes, 2000 was fourteen years ago.
Please read the post to which I responded, it mentioned two decades.
Yes, 2000 was fourteen years ago.
Please read the post to which I responded, it mentioned two decades.