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It is fortunate that Apple still has a small enough market share that they aren't being attacked as vigorously as Windows is. For now I still feel like my Mac

It is fortunate that Apple still has a small enough market share that they aren't being attacked as vigorously as Windows is. For now I still feel like my Mac is safer from viruses than the average Windows machine, but that security is definitely shaky if Apple gets a larger market share and starts attracting real attention from viruses and hackers.

b_emery 16y ago
I hear this enough to wonder if it's a myth. Mac OS is built on Unix, so how does the total Unix+Linux+Mac market share look? Probably big enough to justify attacking. I suspect but can't prove that Unix is inherently more secure than Windows (or more easily secured). I've actually had a Mac compromised before after being lazy about the password setup. I suspect it difficult for the botnets to get traction, but they're certainly trying.
- Tamerlin 16y ago
  It's not actually a myth. There aren't very many UNIX-based operating systems in the hands of the average user, who is the prime target, since the users are the biggest vulnerability in any system. UNIX isn't inherently secure to begin with, in fact initially security for UNIX was an afterthought. It wasn't until it started gaining widespread use that the UNIX developers started taking security seriously. I went through the transition from having encrypted passwords in the /etc/passwords file, which everyone could read (or no one could log in) to /etc/shadow as security started becoming important. That said, there was a virus around 8 years ago that specifically targeted a bunch of NCSA UNIX machines, and they ended up getting caught with their pants down -- there WAS a fix already available that would have blocked the virus, but the NCSA admins hadn't been diligent about installing it.
- wmf 16y ago
  It's only fair to count Unix+Linux+Mac as one market if a single exploit could work on all of them, which I doubt.
- g_lined 16y ago
  I have a tendency to agree with you. For viruses, the numbers don't add up. I couldn't find numbers for how many viruses/worms were written last year. In 2004 there were around 28000 written, so let's assume viruses are on the decline and say 8000 were written last year. With a 5% share, Apple should have anything up to 400 viruses. I am aware of none. I think the reason for this is two fold, firstly, to write a viruses on the Mac, which by their nature need to spread, is harder due to the (*nix) security models used. But also, it seems to me viruses are getting passé and targeted emails with trojans are becoming more popular. Trojans are one thing that Macs have been shown to be susceptible to although often by fooling (social engineering) the person into clicking all the right buttons and typing in their password. I would therefore suggest that any future major problems on OS X will be due to a trojan that gets sent out and manages to auto install through an exploit rather than a virus which does the spreading on its own. The challenge for Apple is being good enough, fast enough to make sure trojan attacks are relegated to social engineering and tainted pirate downloads.
Herring 16y ago
The Mac share of viruses is zero. If youre right & market share is the only consideration, logically that means nobody should be writing any software (eg games) for Mac either.
- evilduck 16y ago
  I would agree with this. Windows is a larger market to attack, but if it's lucrative to sell software to a smaller fraction of the market, it's surely lucrative to infect their computers and harvest personal info. The Apple computer marketshare is small worldwide, but inside the US, one of the richer countries in the world, Apple has a much larger representation (+20% of laptop sales, +10% desktops), and almost all >$1000 computer sales. A bank account or credit card harvested from a random Mac is probably worth a whole lot more than a random Windows computer when selecting from a global set of computers. Essentially, wealth among computer users is not evenly distributed worldwide, and Apple products are disproportionately represented in wealthier nations.
  - Tamerlin 16y ago
    Although that's true, consider the larger context. One, Apple's market share has only been non-trivial in recent years, meaning since the x86 switch + the iPhone launch. Two, most viruses and hacks use the Trojan Horse method, basically attempting to trick the user into giving you something that they wouldn't normally give you. Three, even though Apple and its cult like to claim that OSX is secure, OSX automatically downloads patches, and Apple releases security patches nearly as frequently as Microsoft (but ironically isn't as diligent about closing security holes as Microsoft). To make these work, the people attempting to harvest data or simply cause harm have to play the odds. So the 100 to 1 ratio between Windows and Mac machines out there has historically been reason enough to ignore the mac as a target for hackers and viruses -- so it's very likely that as Apple's market share grows, and as people start using iPhones and iPads for more and more of their computing tasks, they'll increasingly become targets for hackers also.

b_emery 16y ago

I hear this enough to wonder if it's a myth. Mac OS is built on Unix, so how does the total Unix+Linux+Mac market share look? Probably big enough to justify attacking. I suspect but can't prove that Unix is inherently more secure than Windows (or more easily secured). I've actually had a Mac compromised before after being lazy about the password setup. I suspect it difficult for the botnets to get traction, but they're certainly trying.

Tamerlin 16y ago
It's not actually a myth. There aren't very many UNIX-based operating systems in the hands of the average user, who is the prime target, since the users are the biggest vulnerability in any system. UNIX isn't inherently secure to begin with, in fact initially security for UNIX was an afterthought. It wasn't until it started gaining widespread use that the UNIX developers started taking security seriously. I went through the transition from having encrypted passwords in the /etc/passwords file, which everyone could read (or no one could log in) to /etc/shadow as security started becoming important. That said, there was a virus around 8 years ago that specifically targeted a bunch of NCSA UNIX machines, and they ended up getting caught with their pants down -- there WAS a fix already available that would have blocked the virus, but the NCSA admins hadn't been diligent about installing it.
wmf 16y ago
It's only fair to count Unix+Linux+Mac as one market if a single exploit could work on all of them, which I doubt.
g_lined 16y ago
I have a tendency to agree with you. For viruses, the numbers don't add up. I couldn't find numbers for how many viruses/worms were written last year. In 2004 there were around 28000 written, so let's assume viruses are on the decline and say 8000 were written last year. With a 5% share, Apple should have anything up to 400 viruses. I am aware of none. I think the reason for this is two fold, firstly, to write a viruses on the Mac, which by their nature need to spread, is harder due to the (*nix) security models used. But also, it seems to me viruses are getting passé and targeted emails with trojans are becoming more popular. Trojans are one thing that Macs have been shown to be susceptible to although often by fooling (social engineering) the person into clicking all the right buttons and typing in their password. I would therefore suggest that any future major problems on OS X will be due to a trojan that gets sent out and manages to auto install through an exploit rather than a virus which does the spreading on its own. The challenge for Apple is being good enough, fast enough to make sure trojan attacks are relegated to social engineering and tainted pirate downloads.

Herring 16y ago

The Mac share of viruses is zero. If youre right & market share is the only consideration, logically that means nobody should be writing any software (eg games) for Mac either.

evilduck 16y ago
I would agree with this. Windows is a larger market to attack, but if it's lucrative to sell software to a smaller fraction of the market, it's surely lucrative to infect their computers and harvest personal info. The Apple computer marketshare is small worldwide, but inside the US, one of the richer countries in the world, Apple has a much larger representation (+20% of laptop sales, +10% desktops), and almost all >$1000 computer sales. A bank account or credit card harvested from a random Mac is probably worth a whole lot more than a random Windows computer when selecting from a global set of computers. Essentially, wealth among computer users is not evenly distributed worldwide, and Apple products are disproportionately represented in wealthier nations.
- Tamerlin 16y ago
  Although that's true, consider the larger context. One, Apple's market share has only been non-trivial in recent years, meaning since the x86 switch + the iPhone launch. Two, most viruses and hacks use the Trojan Horse method, basically attempting to trick the user into giving you something that they wouldn't normally give you. Three, even though Apple and its cult like to claim that OSX is secure, OSX automatically downloads patches, and Apple releases security patches nearly as frequently as Microsoft (but ironically isn't as diligent about closing security holes as Microsoft). To make these work, the people attempting to harvest data or simply cause harm have to play the odds. So the 100 to 1 ratio between Windows and Mac machines out there has historically been reason enough to ignore the mac as a target for hackers and viruses -- so it's very likely that as Apple's market share grows, and as people start using iPhones and iPads for more and more of their computing tasks, they'll increasingly become targets for hackers also.