Author Topic: Virus protection, mac viruses (Read 3997 times)

ilw-00 · « **on:** August 20, 2003, 06:43:00 PM »

Hi, What virus protection do people suggest for the mac? How common are virues for the mac? I got the following forwared from my son a mac user:

I got two messages like the one below yesterday which suggest that
messages are being sent from my post account which may contain a virus.
Someone at Yale also forwarded me a message which appeared that I had
sent him an attachment of some sort.
Action: failed
> Status: 5.0.0
> Remote-MTA: DNS; air-xn01.mail.aol.com
> Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 554 TRANSACTION FAILED - Unrepairable Virus
> Detected. Your mail has not been sent.
> Last-Attempt-Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 18:15:54 -0400 (EDT)

Thank you ilw-00

kelly · « **Reply #1 on:** August 20, 2003, 08:34:34 PM »

ilw-00. I think there's very little chance you have a virus.

What has most likely happened is that a PC user with your Address does.

Check out the sobig for example.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data...sobig.f@mm.html

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/

ilw-00 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 20, 2003, 08:46:59 PM »

Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your help as usual. ilw-00

Bill · « **Reply #3 on:** August 20, 2003, 09:29:13 PM »

macdailynews

QUOTE

"The other reason everyone may want to move to Mac is that the platform is largely immune to the viruses that plague the Windows world, including Blaster, aka LoveSan, the latest dastardly scheme of virus writers to drive us all crazy,"
~~~ later on ~~~
However, we should not be too smug. If Apple had 80 per cent of the total world computer market, maybe our Macs would be enduring this kind of maliciousness,"

kbeartx · « **Reply #4 on:** August 20, 2003, 09:51:01 PM »

Maria Bartiromo: What is the best way to keep (your computer) from being attacked?

Kevin Mitnick: [laughs] Don't use Microsoft products. They are way too buggy!

>From "Special Report with Maria Bartiromo" - CNBC

kbeartx · « **Reply #5 on:** August 20, 2003, 10:36:52 PM »

QUOTE

If Apple had 80 per cent of the total world computer market, maybe our Macs would be enduring this kind of maliciousness.

M$'s dominance is only part of the equation; the other (and IMO, more significant) factor is that M$ has systematically focused on adding features to their products rather than making them stable and secure because exciting 'bells and whistles' are easier to sell than boring things like robustness and resistance to attack.

I clearly recall reading opinion pieces way back in the eighties, when Windoze 3.0 was beginning to gain wide market acceptance, warning IT professionals about the platform's inherent instability and security weaknesses and exhorting M$ to improve its OS to make it a 'true' enterprise-worthy system.

Since then, similar criticism has continued while M$'s pursuit of glitzy features (while ignoring security concerns) has made the platform even more vulnerable to creative and malicious cyber-vandals.

Perhaps the marketplace will eventually realize that stability and security are more desirable than flash and 'excitement'?

- kbeartx

krissel · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2003, 12:43:07 AM »

QUOTE(ilw-00 @ Aug 20 2003, 7:43 PM)

Hi, What virus protection do people suggest for the mac?

An alcohol dampened cloth wiped lightly over the keyboard and mouse now and then will take care of most problems.

kelly · « **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2003, 08:55:46 AM »

ilw-00. Yeah forgot. There's MacAfee and Norton.

But really. There's about a one in a million chance for problems.

At least for now. That may change someday.

ilw-00 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 21, 2003, 06:38:26 PM »

Thank you all again for being so helpful and reassuring. ilw-00

kelly · « **Reply #9 on:** August 22, 2003, 08:14:31 PM »

Nothing you can do about your Address on a PC Peter.

Encourage them to keep their Anti-Virus up to date and apply Patches.

For all our sakes.

jepinto · « **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2003, 08:21:15 PM »

Kelly and I are working at the same time and it appears we both deleted Peter's message.

I'm sorry.

RHPConsult · « **Reply #11 on:** August 22, 2003, 08:30:30 PM »

I haven't received any such mail this go-around, but I did with the worm that did similarly nasty things a year or so ago.

I simply wrote a note to the unknowing "offender"- - CEO of a consulting firm - - describing my receipt of a "fake message" from his computer, enclosing an account of the worm, then extant.

He then, and quickly:

1) cleaned his own address book - who else could have?
2) sent a note everyone in that address book describing the problem, apologizing, and urging WIN operators to chek their own ADs to slow down its spread.

Don't know what else could have been done.

ilw-00

Some time ago, a major Mac guru wrote that, roughly speaking, the recorded history of WIN vs. Mac viri approximates the following: WIN N= 38-39,000; Mac N = 8

That, perhaps, is reassuring.

krissel · « **Reply #12 on:** August 22, 2003, 09:28:52 PM »

QUOTE(RHPConsult @ Aug 22 2003, 9:30 PM)

Some time ago, a major Mac guru wrote that, roughly speaking, the recorded history of WIN vs. Mac viri approximates the following: WIN N= 38-39,000; Mac N = 8

That, perhaps, is reassuring.

The latest score quoted by most articles these days is:

Win viri-- 70,000

Mac viri-- 50

RHPConsult · « **Reply #13 on:** August 23, 2003, 12:15:41 AM »

The larger question is, of course, to whom is the raspberry directed . . . WIN or RHP?

krissel · « **Reply #14 on:** August 23, 2003, 12:55:32 AM »

Why WIN, of course.

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Author Topic: Virus protection, mac viruses (Read 3997 times)