Anti-virus for OSX 10.5.8?

nmacc · 27-03-2015 3:48pm #1

Hi folks,

All of the usual suspects seem to have discontinued support for this old OS.

Can anyone suggest a virus checker for 10.5.8? We're even willing to pay for it!!

Sad Professor · 27-03-2015 4:15pm

You don’t need one.

nmacc · 27-03-2015 4:31pm

Weellll, I know what you mean, but this is for a friend who is, well let's just say he is thorough (anal) and worries that the system is insecure for online banking, etc.

I pointed out that it's not worth anyone's while writing a virus for an obsolete OS, but I don't think I was sufficiently convincing.

Kavrocks · 27-03-2015 4:59pm

nmacc wrote: »

Weellll, I know what you mean, but this is for a friend who is, well let's just say he is thorough (anal) and worries that the system is insecure for online banking, etc.

That doesn't mean one is needed.

Zcott · 27-03-2015 7:44pm

nmacc wrote: »

I pointed out that it's not worth anyone's while writing a virus for an obsolete OS, but I don't think I was sufficiently convincing.

It's not that no one is writing viruses because it's an old operating system, it's because you can't write viruses for OS X.

JonMac · 28-03-2015 8:05am

Suggest you loose Safari and go with a browser that is kept up to date.
Can he/she not use an app for banking?

ZENER · 28-03-2015 1:10pm

I'd hazard a guess that the Mac being used is an older PPC one. If so then Leopard is as far as it can go OS wise meaning more up to date browsers won't work.

Most of the PUPs around which can get onto a Mac are Adware. For these you can use something like AdwareMedic..

Ken

Elessar · 29-03-2015 10:11am

Funny, I was one of the "you don't need one" brigade until my MBP got infected with a worm. And I didn't realise, for months. Macs aren't so safe anymore. No one was more surprised than I was.

ClamXAV is a good one OP. And I would recommend a good firewall, like Little Snitch.

Sad Professor · 29-03-2015 10:39am

Note that Little Snitch isn't a firewall. It blocks outgoing traffic from third party apps. It's typically used to stop hacked apps from phoning home.

galljga1 · 29-03-2015 11:13am

Zcott wrote: »

It's not that no one is writing viruses because it's an old operating system, it's because you can't write viruses for OS X.

You can. Compared to windows, OSX is much less vulnerable but it is not immune. Personally, I do not use anti virus software. I am pretty anal about sites I trust, what I download and what I execute but anybody can be caught out. Sandboxing, Gatekeeper and Xprotect go a long way in protecting against viruses but so does an internal app called cop on. One other item to consider is that the default for root user access on OSX is disabled. This can be changed but again if you use the above mentioned internal app, this should not be an issue.

Love OSX.

nmacc · 30-03-2015 12:25am

Thanks for the help folks

JonMac · 30-03-2015 3:55pm

I took Elessar's advice and downloaded ClamXAV. Ran it twice and it found 11 phising attacks in emails. I got caught out once, so guess my average is OK.
I can't see if it scans my Timemachine.

galljga1 · 30-03-2015 5:53pm

JonMac wrote: »

I took Elessar's advice and downloaded ClamXAV. Ran it twice and it found 11 phising attacks in emails. I got caught out once, so guess my average is OK.
I can't see if it scans my Timemachine.

Hi Jonmac

Please explain what the phishing attacks were.

JonMac · 31-03-2015 6:35am

I have deleted the files and don't remember the exact wording. They were all emails with dodgy attachments or references to websites [click here stupid], which is what I did once.

muggyog · 31-03-2015 7:53pm

While Macs are fairly virus proof, adware/malware is becoming a problem.

This is a good resource.

No XProtect in 10.5.
http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-builtin/

XProtect not without its problems
https://managingosx.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/disabled-java-plugins-xprotect-updater/

iWorm
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/04/iworm-malware-xprotect/

JonMac · 05-04-2015 2:36pm

To answer the earlier question, this is what ClamXav is finding in my gmail:

Filename Infection Name Status
@imap.gmail.com/[Gmail].mbox/All Mail.mbox/9C1DFBCC-E8E5-4FE4-9B12-68A16668401A/Data/1/1/Messages/11236.emlx Heuristics.Phishing.Email.SpoofedDomain

Filename Infection Name Status
@imap.gmail.com/[Gmail].mbox/All Mail.mbox/9C1DFBCC-E8E5-4FE4-9B12-68A16668401A/Data/3/1/Messages/13314.emlx Email.Phishing.Webmail-5

RealistSpy · 05-04-2015 2:41pm

Sophos

Anti-virus for OSX 10.5.8?

Comments