Why aren't macs good enough to infect

[inscrewtable]

It's not fair, for the last 10 years the Mac community has been promised that virus's are coming. Early on apparently we were not worthy, now with the ubiquity of the iPad and other mac os or ios devices we face the final insult.

Instead of virus's coming to mac, they are instead coming preinstalled with PC. When I see stories like this I instinctively check that it's not april 1

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19585433

 

[tech4all]

A while back I believe some iPods came "preinstalled" with some malware.

 

[Huntn]

I'm under the impression that the way the MacOSX is put together it's not as friendly towards viruses, but I could be completely wrong...

 

[tech4all]

I'm under the impression that the way the MacOSX is put together it's not as friendly towards viruses, but I could be completely wrong...

Im no expert at all but I've heard that the underlying UNIX is what makes it secure. People will also argue that market share plays a role. If that were true then why did Mac OS 9 have viruses when it had even less market share than OS X does now.

Yes there has been some malware but nothing even close to what Windows has.

 

[sviato]

Too small of a marketshare to focus on imo. Virus makers looking to steal data have so many PC's to target, that even if the virus ends up infecting a smaller amount of them it'll be enough compared to potential Mac infections.

 

[G51989]

Too small of a marketshare to focus on imo. Virus makers looking to steal data have so many PC's to target, that even if the virus ends up infecting a smaller amount of them it'll be enough compared to potential Mac infections.

Something like 90 percent of the computers in the world run windows, its well over a billion machines, and most malware and virus's are out to make money. more money in the pc illegal software world.

 

[mrsir2009]

Most Windows users would be wary of viruses by now - However many Mac OSX users would be very vulnerable to them, simply because it has never been a problem, so they don't take precautions. I think someone would have seriously attacked the Mac OSX platform by now if it were possible.

 

[Melab]

One day, Mac OS X's mantle of security will fall. It can, and that is all that matters.

 

[tech4all]

Too small of a marketshare to focus on imo. Virus makers looking to steal data have so many PC's to target, that even if the virus ends up infecting a smaller amount of them it'll be enough compared to potential Mac infections.

You say too small of a marketshare. But again how about with OS 9 and earlier? Why did that have malware when it had even less market share? Back then Apple was a nobody. What was the motivation back then that is not present now?

Either OS X is more secure than Windows, or whatever the motivation was back then is gone now.

One thing is for sure and its been said on the forums a million times...when Macs do start getting Windows-like viruses, we'll some will be taken completly off guard since most don't have anti virus software. It'll be like Pearl Harbor.