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OSX Hacked!

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    #2
    esskay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭esskay


    Do you honestly think windows users have a leg to stand on? pot, kettle, black and all that :-)


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    #3
    Chardee MacDennis
    Registered Users Posts: 9,225 ✭✭✭Chardee MacDennis


    really no but lets hope this doenst become a slippery slope, not that we could get to the amount of viruses available for the windows platform but over the last week there has been a couple of viruses talked about and now this, from 0 security threats I have heard since i got my powerbook 18 months ago...

    shows you how popular macs are getting ;)


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    #4
    SouperComputer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,949 ✭✭✭SouperComputer


    Stinks of scaremongering to me.

    Very little information or evidence given from the "hacker". Not even a mention of the version of OS.

    No doubt some REAL exploits will be found, but I have to laugh the way a lot of people get so excited when an exploit for OS X is discovered.


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    #5
    Snickers Man
    Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭Snickers Man


    I've long suspected that most Mac users were from the planet Hubris but these recent reports about viruses 'appearing' for the MAc and the notion that this will be a whole new phenomenon for people to deal with is just hokum.

    There have always been viruses for the Apple MAc. Just not that many compared with Windows. More than 10 years ago Dr Solomons (as was) was selling an antivirus package specifically for the Mac. Granted, it only scanned for about 50 viruses whereas the corresponding Windows version was looking for thousands, but there you are.

    Then there were macro viruses which were just as lethal on a Mac running Office as on a PC. OK so the worm viruses wre just a nuisance: you got a lot of mails purporting to be from people who loved you but at least their executables were useless on Mac Hardware. Still left a lot of cleaning up on your hard disk to do.

    The main reason there are not more viruses written specifically for the MAc is that nobody could be bothered to. As the mac gets more popular, its attraction tohackers and virus junkies will increase.


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    #6
    jessy
    Registered Users Posts: 950 ✭✭✭jessy


    Snickers Man wrote:
    There have always been viruses for the Apple MAc. Just not that many compared with Windows. More than 10 years ago Dr Solomons (as was) was selling an antivirus package specifically for the Mac. Granted, it only scanned for about 50 viruses whereas the corresponding Windows version was looking for thousands, but there you are.

    Then there were macro viruses which were just as lethal on a Mac running Office as on a PC. OK so the worm viruses wre just a nuisance: you got a lot of mails purporting to be from people who loved you but at least their executables were useless on Mac Hardware. Still left a lot of cleaning up on your hard disk to do.

    The main reason there are not more viruses written specifically for the MAc is that nobody could be bothered to. As the mac gets more popular, its attraction tohackers and virus junkies will increase.

    Totally agree with most of this, IMO the reason that most viruses are written for windows is because it is by far the most popular OS in the world, so hackers virus/worm developers just like showing MS how unsecure /unstable they really are! And of course it’s an easy target! But yes definitely as the MAC gets more popular it will be targeted much more often, wouldn’t be surprised is some AV company’s were trying to get into the MAC market by actually developing viruses for the mac them self’s, the viruses for macs start to make some news headings and before you know it Norton/MacAfee AV is a must have on a MAC! by the way I don’t mean to nit pick but what are “worm viruses”


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    #7
    Ham'nd'egger
    Registered Users Posts: 3,025 ✭✭✭Ham'nd'egger


    Maybe there is less incentive for someone to hack a Mac as you claim, but given the fact that there is like 1 virus or some miniscule amount for OS X (The current operation system de rigeur for Macs) and maybe millions (not to mention worms and trojans) for Windows, that arguement Jessy and Snickersman propose will always be insecure speculation by Window users to pick at Apple users over one of the prime benefits of our products over the opposition, nothing more nothing less.


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    #8
    Snickers Man
    Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭Snickers Man


    Hamndegger wrote:
    that arguement Jessy and Snickersman propose will always be insecure speculation by Window users to pick at Apple users over one of the prime benefits of our products over the opposition, nothing more nothing less.


    Or as the Boomtown Rats put it:
    Just look over there where some kid has sprayed
    "Nobody could be bothered to rule here, OK"


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    #9
    Chardee MacDennis
    Registered Users Posts: 9,225 ✭✭✭Chardee MacDennis


    so the above article may not have been completely true: here is a new Mac OSX Security Test that has just completed. From Digg.com:
    http://test.doit.wisc.edu/


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    #10
    Ham'nd'egger
    Registered Users Posts: 3,025 ✭✭✭Ham'nd'egger


    Call_me_al wrote:
    so the above article may not have been completely true: here is a new Mac OSX Security Test that has just completed. From Digg.com:
    http://test.doit.wisc.edu/

    Very interesting read there, Al. And unlike zdnet, this article is pretty precise as to what it covers and the author is openly contactable as well.

    Snickers and Jessy, what do you make of it? :D


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    #11
    jessy
    Registered Users Posts: 950 ✭✭✭jessy


    Hamndegger wrote:
    Very interesting read there, Al. And unlike zdnet, this article is pretty precise as to what it covers and the author is openly contactable as well.

    Snickers and Jessy, what do you make of it? :D

    It makes for an interesting read, but i still stand by the points that i made. there is no such thing as a completely secure OS and as OS X get more popular it will def come under more attack! but at the end of the day I would feel relatively secure in surfing the net without the need for AV or ASpyware with OS X! wouldn’t dream of doing this on a windows machine.


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    #12
    Snickers Man
    Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭Snickers Man


    What was the famous quote from Dr Solomon (Yes, THE Doctor Solomon)

    "The only reason there's no mainframe viruses is there are no 16 year old boys with mainframes hacking away in their garden sheds"

    There is nothing intrinsically virus (or malware) free about any computer system. It's just that more people are familiar with PCs than any other machine and so they propagate their filth on them.


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