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As the OS gets more popular, Apple will need to add the kind of protective features present in Windows to deal with this sort of problem. Dismissing it isn't go
by innes 15y ago
As the OS gets more popular, Apple will need to add the kind of protective features present in Windows to deal with this sort of problem. Dismissing it isn't gonna work - this kind of malware is the problem these days rather than viruses. As a savvy user, I've never found the need to run antivirus software on Windows, but it would be the height of arrogance for me to scoff at the problems others do have and blame it on their stupidity.
As is the way with these things, Apple will stonewall, but I expect eventually handle the issue. In the mean time some of the congregation will snort in derision and deny there's a problem.
- Steko 15y agoApple is not going to solve the problem of gullible people typing their credit card info into a scammer's form, any Mac based solution (of which the obvious will be to lock down installation to the Mac App Store) is just going to push scammers back on the web.
- innes 15y agoNo, but they can help solve the problem of gullible people downloading and running installers for known malware. Honestly, listening to some Mac user responses to this problem, it's like entering a timewarp back to when all the measures implemented on Windows/IE to deal with this stuff hadn't even been thought up. Possibly a quick fix, until it's addressed, is for folk on OSX to do their web surfing in a Windows VM, using a security-focussed browser designed for non-technical people, such as IE9. ;-)
- danssig 15y ago>Honestly, listening to some Mac user responses to this problem, it's like entering a timewarp back to when all the measures implemented on Windows/IE to deal with this stuff hadn't even been thought up. That's because many of the measures implemented on windows are fundamentally flawed. Virus/Malware scanners? Really? So we want to turn infecting people's computers into a business? The MS approach has always been to make money on working around defects. I really, really hope Apple doesn't decide to go down this route.
- innes 15y ago> The MS approach has always been to make money on working around defects. Internet Explorer and Windows Defender are both free. Also, the defect in this instance is allowing users to install software on their PCs and not helping them avoid installing malware. As this story shows, this is a defect that is shared and arguably worse on OSX.
- danssig 15y agoWell, millions or billions have been made on anti-virus software. The overhead to have every file or network operation read by some scanning program is too much. This needs to be avoided at all costs. Especially since there are better ways. Again, the proper solution for the kind of people who would actually install a virus manually is to simply point them at the App store.