117 ms·

Isn't it still programms that the user explicitly has to install? If normal users keep their random application installing limited to the app store they should

by rb2k_ 15y ago

Isn't it still programms that the user explicitly has to install? If normal users keep their random application installing limited to the app store they should be fine. If you DO install "video players" from porn sites or download stuff off the pirate bay, you might end up with malware...

podperson 15y ago
Exactly. Nothing will protect you from stupidity.
- noelchurchill 15y ago
  I think part of the problem is that people have been sold on the idea that Macs are safe and "there aren't any viruses for the Mac." There is this ill conceived notion that naive users hold that they aren't at risk so they'll more more inclined to install malware without thinking about or understanding the consequences.
  - podperson 15y ago
    Only someone who believes there are viruses for the Mac are going to fall for this scam, since it's "free antivirus software". From TFA: EB: So customers who get hit by this are installing it and giving their admin password? AC: Yes.
    - pygy_ 15y ago
      There are a lot of programs that require the admin password in order to be installed, for them to be installed system-wide... Usually, a single user install would be enough, but they don't provide the option (or I couldn't find it). As a consequence, users are trained to give their password to random apps, and they end up not paying attention anymore to which app they give it to.
- dholowiski 15y ago
  Seatbelts protect you from stupidity. So does antivirus on windows, when it works.
- Vivtek 15y ago
  You must not have parents with computers. It's not stupidity - it's the assumption that what you see on the screen isn't actively lying to you. For somebody accustomed to being told that the computer is always right, this is a hard thing to grasp, and attitudes like yours really don't help.
  - nickolai 15y ago
    Telling anyone that "the computer is alway right" is the problem. The Mac attitude saying " relax, the software knows what to do" is really putting the users at risk in this case. They just dont have the dismissive reflex windows users have acquired for such situations. EDIT : Disclaimer : im mostly a linux user.
  - podperson 15y ago
    I'm a parent with computers who has parent with computers and children with computers. "somebody accustomed to being told that the computer is always right" -- if they believe that, it's stupid, and they have worse problems than malware.
- Teckla 15y ago
  "Exactly. Nothing will protect you from stupidity." I'm getting so tired of this blame-the-user-for-everything attitude on Slashdot, HN, and elsewhere. Some of the blame belongs to Apple/Safari. You see, Safari's default settings allow for the automatic download and execution of "safe content". The clever authors of MacDefender/MacProtector packaged things up so that by merely visiting a hostile web page in Safari, it causes Safari to automatically download and automatically run the MacDefender/MacProtector installer. For example, you may be browsing Google Images. You click on one. The next thing you know, and this happens in just a second or two on a broadband connection, the installer program for MacDefender/MacProtector is running. Now fortunately, the installer process itself is benign. If you quit the installer, you won't get infected. If you continue through the installer, however, the Trojan will be installed. I can see how a lot of people might think Apple automatically pushed out an anti-virus, or something, and that's why the installer starting running automatically. Feel free to blame the user all you want...right now, it seems very popular to blame "those stupid users" for everything. But in this case, Apple/Safari deserve a nontrivial share of the blame for Safari's outstandingly asinine defaults.
  - podperson 15y ago
    I am not disagreeing that Safari's default behavior is stupid (open "safe" files). The fact the the install process is benign is not "fortunate" though -- to qualify as "safe" they're running Apple's installer from a pkg. If they provided their own installer, the installer wouldn't be considered by Safari to be "safe" and the whole thing wouldn't work.
27182818284 15y ago
I'm not so worried about the malware apps that ask permission as much as the malware app that takes advantage of yet another Adobe Flash exploit. Well, I really shouldn't pick on just Flash, but you get the idea.

by rb2k_ 15y ago

podperson 15y ago

Exactly. Nothing will protect you from stupidity.

noelchurchill 15y ago
I think part of the problem is that people have been sold on the idea that Macs are safe and "there aren't any viruses for the Mac." There is this ill conceived notion that naive users hold that they aren't at risk so they'll more more inclined to install malware without thinking about or understanding the consequences.
- podperson 15y ago
  Only someone who believes there are viruses for the Mac are going to fall for this scam, since it's "free antivirus software". From TFA: EB: So customers who get hit by this are installing it and giving their admin password? AC: Yes.
  - pygy_ 15y ago
    There are a lot of programs that require the admin password in order to be installed, for them to be installed system-wide... Usually, a single user install would be enough, but they don't provide the option (or I couldn't find it). As a consequence, users are trained to give their password to random apps, and they end up not paying attention anymore to which app they give it to.
dholowiski 15y ago
Seatbelts protect you from stupidity. So does antivirus on windows, when it works.
Vivtek 15y ago
You must not have parents with computers. It's not stupidity - it's the assumption that what you see on the screen isn't actively lying to you. For somebody accustomed to being told that the computer is always right, this is a hard thing to grasp, and attitudes like yours really don't help.
- nickolai 15y ago
  Telling anyone that "the computer is alway right" is the problem. The Mac attitude saying " relax, the software knows what to do" is really putting the users at risk in this case. They just dont have the dismissive reflex windows users have acquired for such situations. EDIT : Disclaimer : im mostly a linux user.
- podperson 15y ago
  I'm a parent with computers who has parent with computers and children with computers. "somebody accustomed to being told that the computer is always right" -- if they believe that, it's stupid, and they have worse problems than malware.
Teckla 15y ago
"Exactly. Nothing will protect you from stupidity." I'm getting so tired of this blame-the-user-for-everything attitude on Slashdot, HN, and elsewhere. Some of the blame belongs to Apple/Safari. You see, Safari's default settings allow for the automatic download and execution of "safe content". The clever authors of MacDefender/MacProtector packaged things up so that by merely visiting a hostile web page in Safari, it causes Safari to automatically download and automatically run the MacDefender/MacProtector installer. For example, you may be browsing Google Images. You click on one. The next thing you know, and this happens in just a second or two on a broadband connection, the installer program for MacDefender/MacProtector is running. Now fortunately, the installer process itself is benign. If you quit the installer, you won't get infected. If you continue through the installer, however, the Trojan will be installed. I can see how a lot of people might think Apple automatically pushed out an anti-virus, or something, and that's why the installer starting running automatically. Feel free to blame the user all you want...right now, it seems very popular to blame "those stupid users" for everything. But in this case, Apple/Safari deserve a nontrivial share of the blame for Safari's outstandingly asinine defaults.
- podperson 15y ago
  I am not disagreeing that Safari's default behavior is stupid (open "safe" files). The fact the the install process is benign is not "fortunate" though -- to qualify as "safe" they're running Apple's installer from a pkg. If they provided their own installer, the installer wouldn't be considered by Safari to be "safe" and the whole thing wouldn't work.

27182818284 15y ago

I'm not so worried about the malware apps that ask permission as much as the malware app that takes advantage of yet another Adobe Flash exploit. Well, I really shouldn't pick on just Flash, but you get the idea.