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Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

pcworld.com

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Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#41

Post by sigzero »

nathan_long wrote: post #29
zdw wrote: post #12

"It doesn't get PC viruses" will, by definition, always be true. It's just not as relevant as it used to be, as Windows is much better in this regard today. If anything, this change is a nod to how the computing industry has moved on - using a Mac is no longer PC virus avoidance, but more "use this because it's great". That said, most of the "virus" writers have turned to spyware and adware, and other scummy malware…

>> "It doesn't get PC viruses" will, by definition, always be true. Until someone writes a 2-in-1 virus that can infect cross-platform.

Then by definition it is not just "PC".

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#42

Post by trotsky »

esonderegger wrote: post #26

I love the way the article only quotes two people, both from companies that sell antivirus software. Not that their views should ignored just because of who they work for, but their self-interest was clear. The first suggests that Apple should be encouraging their users to install antivirus software. My understanding is that Apple's position is the opposite: 3rd party antivirus software on OSX provides so little extr…

Mac OS X Security Configuration Guide:

https://ssl.apple.com/support/security/guides/docs/SnowLeopa...

Installing antivirus tools helps prevent infection of your computer by viruses, and helps prevent your computer from becoming a host used to spread viruses to other computers. These tools quickly identify suspicious content and compare them to known malicious content.

Quoting the Snow leopard one since that seems to be the most recent. They've also used stronger wording in the past: "Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult." and "Regularly check for viruses on your hard disk using an anti-virus program, especially if you download files from the Internet or share files with others."

While I agree that the state of AV software is generally rather poor and provides weak protection, I'd be surprised if the major AV choices didn't prevent a flashback infection at least by the time it had become commonly talked about.

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#43

Post by mkaltenecker »

einhverfr wrote: post #37
brudgers wrote: post #13

According to Sophos U.S. senior technology consultant Graham Cluley, this is a sign that Apple is starting to take security seriously. "I view the changes in the messages pushed out by their marketing department as some important baby-steps," he wrote in a blog entry. The idea that the removal of technical falsehoods from Apple marketing copy represents a watershed moment in their attitude toward the security of thei…

I keep trying to find a way to set it lower but I can't. Maybe someone can help me.

You can’t set a bar for Apple because they just say nothing at all. Interpreting Apple is akin to reading tea leaves.

It’s not a low bar, it’s just that Apple never says anything.

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#45

Post by warp »

zdw wrote: post #12

"It doesn't get PC viruses" will, by definition, always be true. It's just not as relevant as it used to be, as Windows is much better in this regard today. If anything, this change is a nod to how the computing industry has moved on - using a Mac is no longer PC virus avoidance, but more "use this because it's great". That said, most of the "virus" writers have turned to spyware and adware, and other scummy malware…

Only if you define PC to exclude macs.

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#46

Post by mkaltenecker »

Being immune to PC viruses used to be a great advantage. You can talk about theoretical possibilities all day long, in practical terms the difference used to huge. Apple’s marketing exploited that – and why shouldn’t they?

Microsoft, however, has improved massively and that advantage is just not longer there. PC viruses still don’t affect OS X – but they also don’t affect any modern Windows very often.

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#47

Post by paulmcpazzi »

zdw wrote: post #12

"It doesn't get PC viruses" will, by definition, always be true. It's just not as relevant as it used to be, as Windows is much better in this regard today. If anything, this change is a nod to how the computing industry has moved on - using a Mac is no longer PC virus avoidance, but more "use this because it's great". That said, most of the "virus" writers have turned to spyware and adware, and other scummy malware…

>> "It doesn't get PC viruses" will, by definition, always be true.

Macs are PCs.

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#48

Post by idspispopd »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #33

Apple seem to be less interested in comparing themselves to MS and PCs in general these days. In ~2005 their entire marketing was based around trying to sell you a Mac as a PC replacement "Your next PC should be a Mac". I guess they are less interested now because it's a smaller % of their revenue and most of the people who would want/can afford a Mac are already giving them plenty of money so there's no desperate ne…

Also security on the whole has improved across all platforms.

When Apple began to market themselves as immune from 'PC viruses', the Windows platform was besieged in drive by downloads and massive, highly publicised infections.

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#49

Post by duiker101 »

batista wrote: post #40
duiker101 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you know... "Think different". They cannot have even the smallest thing in common... or at least that's what they want people to think.

Really? That must be why when they switched to Intel they touted the compatibility, and why the even offer a utility called "BootCamp" to easily run Windows on your Mac, with automatic re-partitioning, hw drivers, et al.

You know that, i know that, but let's ask some of those people that actually think that Macs do not get viruses because they are better...

Re: Apple Quietly Pulls Claims of Virus Immunity

#50

Post by smackfu »

batista wrote: post #35
muraiki wrote: post #5

Wow, I had no idea that they said stuff like that on their site. Even though it specifies "PC viruses," the average computer user doesn't understand the distinction. Just last night a relative mentioned how Macs don't get viruses (which I corrected).

Well, theoretically they DO get viruses --but practically they don't. All those past false alarms, touted to high heavens, were trojans. And they aren't even that many, at that. The one genuine virus like thing --which still wasn't a virus as it needed you to visit specific webpages-- infected like 100,000 Macs. So, assuming ~ 20M Macs, 99.5% of the Macs out there haven't got any virus, ever. And with better OS X sup…

Of course, are "viruses" the problem on PCs anyway? Or are trojans the problem everywhere? Viruses are hard to write, since you need several exploits, to get them to both install and spread. Trojans just need one.
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