I'm in a computer programming class and my prof keeps saying macs don't get viruses because they aren't made for the mac. While i'm sure that has some truth to it what is the real reason macs aren't as easy to hack as PCs?
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Mac Viruses
- Thread starter mikky05v
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I think the real reason is historically 99% of computers are PCs, if you were writing malicious code wouldn't you want it to actually be malicious and have an easy conduit for transfer instead of praying for it to go from Mac to Mac? The OS's are 100% different and viruses always seem to attacks specific parts of the OS and/or use specific resources in an OS, therefore all of the viruses are made for PC and only use PC OS Resources to complete their tasks which makes them useless when downloaded onto a Mac running an OSX variant.
zblaxberg
Guest
Also don't forget mac operating system is unix based whereas windows isn't. It's a completely different style of coding. And last time I checked i thought apple had something like 7-9% of the computer share.
you are correct Windows currently holds about 92%..
so is it really just bc they aren't made for macs? or is it more difficult on some level?
flopticalcube
macrumors G4
Traditionally that has been the case. Vista makes it more difficult on the Windows side and XP has tightened up a lot since SP2 but Apple has been very good about plugging loopholes when they have been discovered.
MisterMe
macrumors G4
This question has been asked and argued over on this forum too many times to count. A simple search will find numerous threads on the matter. No one will spread any new light on the subject.
However, the previous respondents have given you variations on the shopworn and discredited Security through Obscurity excuse. Your professor is correct that there are no viruses written for the Mac, but it has not been for lack of trying. That is evidenced by the three or four proof of concepts. However, it is virtually impossible to write a piece of code for the Mac to does what a virus needs to do in order to qualify as a virus.
What seems to get lost is that System 6 has several viruses. However, the number of viruses on the Mac declined during the era of System 7 through MacOS 9. MacOS 9 had something like one virus. Despite being wildly successful for seven years now, MacOS X has zero viruses. In Windows, security is added on. MacOS X and, to a lesser extent, MacOS 9 were designed to be secure.
kkat69
macrumors 68020
The most notably is self-replication. It has been damn near impossible to get a file to self replicate itself without the actual user providing some input.
Google, search forums, as stated, reasons for the topic have been repeated time and time over.
being unix based, the user allows every program downloaded to run/install by authorizing it with an administrator's password. with windows, this is not the case, a program can be hidden in another file, then executed/installed to run without the user's notification. that is the main reason macs don't get viruses, there are mac viruses, but you have to try to get them...
PS- I did a large school report on this, PC majority is a minor reason, but still legitimate
PS- I did a large school report on this, PC majority is a minor reason, but still legitimate