Windows malware dominates Mac malware detection chart Malicious files that use the the scripting capability of Microsoft Media Player to infect Windows machines have emerged as the main threat detected on the machines of Apple users who have taken advantage of Sophos' recent offer of a freebie anti-malware scanner application. The Windows-specific threat - identified by Sophos as …
My thoughts exactly. I have wondered for some time how WMP manages to be responsible for so many virus outbreaks. Now I know; I never realised before.
MS' ability to deliberately engineer and construct security holes that are so bloody obvious a mole rat could see through them is beyond comprehension. Are the people at MS really THAT stupid? I really do struggle to believe that they are. But with this, and "autoplay" and a raft of other moronic ideas, the evidence screams otherwise. I mean, WHY???
"There is much less Mac malware than Windows malware, but that doesn't mean that Mac users should be blase about protecting their computers," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.
Ah, isn't that nice. She really cares about other operating systems on other hardware. See, Sophos really cares about computer users, that's nice. I cannot for the life of me possibly think of any other reason she would say these things, she really cares.
I'm sure I read somewhere that there have been more instances with anti-virus malfunctioning on Macs (false positives, etc.) than there have been actual malware.
Perhaps the day will come when there's some zero-day flaw that gets 90% of Macs in one fell swoop, but I'm still waiting for it... Nice fear-mongering, Sophos!
I gave it a whirl -- I freelance with banks using Windows machines, so it would be embarrassing to be the source of a virus/trojan or other nasty.
It took about 60 hours to trawl my hard drive and back ups and it found about 30 instances of one very old Windows trojan and two of another. It said it wasn't able to clean these automatically so I should do it manually.
But the really stupid thing was that the window that listed the paths of the files wasn't big enough so they were presented in truncated form (they were well buried in backups so had very long paths). Nothing I tried would make the software cough up the full address and let me actually find the damned things.
Perhaps I was being dim, but there is no way that I could act on the program's recommendation, so they're still sitting there. I think they're effectively harmless, being so old, but the same problem would presumably apply if they were the latest cunning and dastardly attack.
Complete waste of time simply because of poor UI design.
I've had it with Norton and McAfee at work places that enforce their usage. Fortunately I've usually been able to find the logs which show the full path, but it is still rather a PITA. What I found more annoying was the lack of original filename and timestamp data for the reports I needed to file. The theory seems to be that you put the virus back where it came from, browse to the directory, record the data, and then delete it again. Reminds me rather of aiming a double barreled shotgun at my feet and making sure I fired BOTH chambers.
I filed a bug report on that very item with the only place on Sophos' site that I could find that was a likely place to file. I got back an email indicating that I'd filed it in the wrong place. The location of the correct place to file it was left unclear.
I have deleted the Sophos app from my system, having finished the trial and found it distinctly lacking.
Someone wake me if there's ever a reason to reinstall it.
Smugly yours...
They're going to become R-E-A-L-L-Y rich through selling a product for £0.00 or €0.00, or $0.00 (delete according to preferred currency).
Yeah, my Macs have been free from the fruits-of-the-ungodly for 11 or 12 years - last "nasty" was the Autostart 9805 worm back in the late nineties, in pre-OSX days.
I STILL run AV though - if only to catch "Windows" nasties, so I don't pass anything on to my poor benighted acquaintances.
They've enough grief without my adding to it, poor blighters!
I let it run through my hard drive, and although I freely confess to having been all over the dark and dodgy corners of the internet downloading dodgy stuff, and letting my students plug their PC-infested USB sticks into my machine… nothing. No malware at all, not even so much as a Word macro virus.
Ho. Hum.
I find your premise very strange...
You should use a Microsoft phone to write your article...
Store it on and SD card...
Then load it into the normal computer you use...
Then try to go to the phone, since, it won't load...
Hint...
Microsoft will blame someone, including you.... for the problem...
Now, why are you using Linux, if you trust Microsoft?
Sorry Cap'n... I dinna under-stand the premis'
And likewise didn't find any rare-as-hens-teeth Mac malware that allegedly exists. It did find, however, the Windows malware mentioned in the article. The Sophos software isn't particularly well designed. I too discovered the truncated path names but through a bit of detective work found the offending files and removed them manually. I'm puzzled why the Sophos software couldn't remove the infected files since the payload wasn't actually active or in any way preventing removal.
Perhaps its a strategy to buy something from them that will remove the infected files without me needing a gun and a flashlight?
Anyway, in the many years I've been using Mac OS X and used anti-malware programs (previously ClamXav) and only ever found Windows threats.
I welcome the day that Microsoft makes a version of Windows that also treats all the infected files as dead weight that can not infect or injure the operating system in anyway like they currently do on Mac OS X or Linux and join the rest of the enlightened world exiting the dark ages forever!
but then I woke up!
messes with the performance of the machine big time. If your a "home user" why would you need it? In big corporate where Sophos make money I can understand as you would not want to pass something onto a client.... but for home use.... would seem that Sophos are wasting there time & trying to scare people into using a product thats not needed.
Did you actually use the Sophos software one a Mac? I can't measure a performance impact at all. Yes I am not concerned about my Mac, but I am concerned about what I carry and pass on to me friends and more importantly clients. Which was the point of this article. I found 7 nasties that won't hurt me, but could affect me and my reputation when I pass them on to my Windows friends.
No scaring just common sense.
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