Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#1

Post by hyperpape » Fri, Apr 02, 2021, 11:52 PM UTC

Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong
paulosyibelo.com

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#2

Post by xwdv » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:39 AM UTC

That headline is needlessly dramatic. It’s like the tag line for a movie poster for some cyber thriller.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#3

Post by fortran77 » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:40 AM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #2

That headline is needlessly dramatic. It’s like the tag line for a movie poster for some cyber thriller.

I disagree. Many of Apple's user-base believes that the platform is immune from viruses and malware. It's important to get the message out that it's no better (and may be worse) than other popular platforms. Especially since Apple claims their platform is "secure by design."

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#4

Post by marcinzm » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:41 AM UTC

To the author: This website seems to use something called SmoothScroll (edit: a javascript library) which makes my scrolling really really jumpy/janky. I'm using chrome on a MacBook with the touchpad. Made it basically impossible to scroll around the page which in turn made it very difficult for me to read the article.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#5

Post by VectorLock » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:42 AM UTC

marcinzm wrote: post #4

To the author: This website seems to use something called SmoothScroll (edit: a javascript library) which makes my scrolling really really jumpy/janky. I'm using chrome on a MacBook with the touchpad. Made it basically impossible to scroll around the page which in turn made it very difficult for me to read the article.

Was about to post the same. This might be the most frustrating scrolling I've ever encountered.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#6

Post by VectorLock » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:44 AM UTC

fortran77 wrote: post #3

xwdv wrote: post #2

That headline is needlessly dramatic. It’s like the tag line for a movie poster for some cyber thriller.

I disagree. Many of Apple's user-base believes that the platform is immune from viruses and malware. It's important to get the message out that it's no better (and may be worse) than other popular platforms. Especially since Apple claims their platform is "secure by design."

I don't think it can be worse than Windows. Not immune, but definitely not worse.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#7

Post by alpha_squared » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:44 AM UTC

How does something like this wind up on the front page? As of this comment, it was posted 48 minutes ago with 12 points , one other comment, and sits at number 5. It's a self-professed clickbait title, though the content is interesting.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#8

Post by Waterluvian » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:45 AM UTC

alpha_squared wrote: post #7

How does something like this wind up on the front page? As of this comment, it was posted 48 minutes ago with 12 points , one other comment, and sits at number 5. It's a self-professed clickbait title, though the content is interesting.

The ranking algorithm put it here.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#9

Post by techrat » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:48 AM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #2

That headline is needlessly dramatic. It’s like the tag line for a movie poster for some cyber thriller.

The response, for the longest time, from a lot of MacOS users was that "Macs can't get viruses." No thanks, in large part, due to Apple's own advertising.

This led to decades of bad online practices on the part of Mac users, thinking that by virtue of using an Apple computer, they were immune to such attacks they deemed exclusive to 'viruses.' Malware was for someone else, they'd argue. Because they don't get viruses, they were fine.

As a result, one of the largest botnets for a time was a MacOS one. Flashback.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(Trojan)

The headline isn't needlessly dramatic. It's dramatic enough to prove a point. Bad habits and lack of safe file handling is the most guaranteed way one opens themselves up to attack vectors such as the one demonstrated in the article.

Re: Man who thought opening a TXT file is fine thought wrong

#10

Post by techrat » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 12:51 AM UTC

VectorLock wrote: post #6

fortran77 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Many of Apple's user-base believes that the platform is immune from viruses and malware. It's important to get the message out that it's no better (and may be worse) than other popular platforms. Especially since Apple claims their platform is "secure by design."

I don't think it can be worse than Windows. Not immune, but definitely not worse.

Depends on how you want to set the goalposts.

By version, MacOSX is faring worse.

By total history despite a good chunk of old Windows malware not being net capable or able to run in current modes... perhaps.

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/12/21134681/mac-pc-virus-m...

Safety by virtue of running MacOSX isn't enough anymore. Not that I'd argue it ever was totally safe/enough in the first place.

Bad habits are what subject one to attacks more than anything else... and that's basically what Apple cultivated in their users through ignorance of threat mechanisms.