News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

July 23, 2008

security

Hack says hackers are attacking Macs

Posted Jul. 23, ’08, 9:55 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Security

Hacker posterYou know, I was just thinking that it’s been a while since we had a good Mac security article, and Bernhard Warner at the Times Online was nice enough to oblige. In a piece that they’ve no doubt been keeping in cold storage to throw out after yet another record quarter of Mac sales, the Times isn’t mincing words with its headline: “Hackers start to target Apple Macs.” Where by “mincing words” I mean “describing a factual event.”

A big factor in Apple’s success in selling 2.5 million computers last quarter is growing user disaffection with Windows. Everything from recurring Vista headaches to security fears are driving Windows users into the Mac camp. Ironically, the resulting Mac sales are coinciding with – and causing – a new upsurge in malware written specifically for Apple users.

Really? Is “upsurge” the collective noun for malware? Like “pride of lions” or “parliament of rooks”? Come to think of it, how many do you need for an “upsurge”? More than two? I’m not sure this qualifies…

The company reports today that two new Mac-ware Trojans that emerged in February and June ought to shake Mac users of their misconceptions that their computers (and, eventually, iPods and iPhones) are impenetrable. To put this in perspective, the first really pernicious piece of Mac malware emerged only in October, 2007, Mr Cluley adds, suggesting that a worrisome trend is about to get worse.

Okay, I suppose three data points do technically make a trend. Of course, that trend appears to be that one piece of malware is released for the Mac roughly every fourth months. Abandon ship! Save yourselves! Women and children first!

Scarier still, the same tech-novice PC owners who failed to fortify their computers properly, allowing them to become spam relays and zombie DDOS attackers, are now making the switch to Macs. “I think the Mac user base will end up becoming polluted by some of the same people who have been infected time and time again in the Windows environment,” Mr Cluley says. “It’s mainly the same people who buy a computer primarily to download porn and visit file-sharing sites.”

Wait…isn’t that the reason that most people buy computers? No?

It’s a pattern that has security analysts uneasy. Apple will be hoping that it doesn’t grow large enough to alarm the financial analysts.

Look, I’ve said pretty much everything I can say on this subject in the past. But it’s worth pointing out that the deluge of malware apps for the Mac still hasn’t materialized, despite this tune being sung ad nauseam for the last four or five years.

But I will tell you that based on my own painstaking research, I’ve also been able to identify a definitive, disturbing trend: as Mac market share continues to rise, we will see a corresponding increase in the number of pointless, regurgitated “higher Mac market share will attract malware” articles. Seriously: if there were even half as many hackers attacking the Mac as there were clueless journalists writing about hackers attacking the Mac, then we might be in trouble.


9 Comments

tayker Author Profile Page said:

1. Vista, the point mentioned, wasn't released "four or five years" ago.

2. Looking back over the last 5 years, malware and a worm might not look like a lot. However, looking at it over the last year paints a different picture.

3. The Mac has been a staple at hacker events over the last couple years now.

I'm not saying the sky is falling, but the same nonchalant attitude is what boned a lot of Windows users. You might not have been affected yet, but there are some Mac users that have.

July 23, 2008 11:37 AM
Blaine said:

I agree with the author. I've been using a Mac since the 512 in 1984, and I have NEVER encountered a virus in 24 years. You can only cry wolf so many times before you lose credibility.

July 23, 2008 12:56 PM
Chris said:

This has been said over and over since the iPod brought Apple into the limelight. It's like vaporware. The threat is always looming yet nothing happens. I'm not naive, I know that any OS you have connected to the internet is fair game to hackers but this sensationalism is a load of crap.

http://www.creativefriday.com/blog/editorial/mac-malware-is-like-vaporware/

July 23, 2008 2:38 PM
Anon said:

I don't agree with the author and agree with tayker. I've been using a PC since the x86 in 1990, and I have NEVER encountered a virus. Just because you're sitting there nice, smug and complacent up on your Mac pedestal doesn't mean this won't be a problem on a Mac sooner than you smugly think.

July 23, 2008 2:48 PM
dietero said:

Dan:
I hope you get paid well enough to read the Times.
That is above and beyond the call of duty.

July 23, 2008 4:33 PM
Anonymous said:

I download and watch lots of porn and have not had any problem with viruses on Mac or Windows. I must be visiting only safe cybersex sites. And once again we get 'the sky is falling!!' over a Trojan, not even a real virus.

July 23, 2008 5:04 PM
EvilBallmer said:

MIcrosoft will finance hackers secretly to create malware, virus for Mac users and spread them in the wild.

Ballmer hopes to level the playing field for Vista.

July 23, 2008 7:06 PM
Kelmon said:

With all due respect, the Mac might not be a home for malware today, but if Apple continues to leave bugs unpatched for long periods of time after they've been published, then it's only a matter of time. Yes, I am, of course, referring to the Apple Remote Desktop agent flaw that still remains unpatched and for which attack code is in the wild. Your chances of being hit by it are very low but that's not the point. Heck, even 3rd parties have got fed up waiting for Apple to fix the problem and have released their own tools to do the job. How dumb is that?

I don't think there is much point denying that an increasing market share will make the Mac more attractive to hackers. As long as Apple ensures that the gates are barred then that's not a problem, but currently they are doing a VERY shoddy job of maintaining the security of OS X and it puts all Mac users at risk.

July 23, 2008 11:44 PM
Barbara said:

Maybe you never, ever had a virus but what about spyware Anon and Tayker? Are you going to try to convince us that you never had any issues with those little gems? I think not.

July 24, 2008 9:30 AM

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