No More Mac Malware?
I hope so!
And, by that I mean, I hope all that Mac Malware we heard about a couple weeks ago is gone.
Now, I know several Mac fanboy blogs linked to the note I put up about the Mac malware some time back thought I was going out of my way to bash Apple, but, honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I hadn’t given it another thought until Ed Bott wrote “Where did all the Mac malware go?” I threw the original story out there as a warning to all the Apple users who think the Mac and OS X is entirely free from any malware and utterly safe. That’s just not true. It is, I have to admit, much safer, in general, than Windows. There are a couple reasons for that, but, mostly, it’s because of market share and how Apple does, well, everything.
So, that last explosion of malware may be the only shot you hear fired. At least, for a while.
Frankly, I hope so. And, I hope that it put enough scare into people that they take security seriously anyway. As Apple’s market share grows, their products will all become a more appealing target for hackers and crackers. Though I hope to be proven wrong, I suspect that there is malware being written to attack Macs and, possibly, iPhones and iPads. In fact, that malware may be already written and just waiting for the right infection vector. Maybe.
Maybe I’m just a bit cynical and I’m waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.
For years, Apple fanboys have told people that Macs were completely virus free and were more secure by their very nature. Sadly, that’s not true. We’ve heard the first shots fired in a new skirmish in the secret war for desktops of all kinds. It’s big business. I don’ t think this is the last we’ve heard about Mac malware.
But, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Apple has closed that hole and all the other holes, too. Maybe the Macs are all safe and that’s why we haven’t heard about that malware recently.
Maybe.
But, can you afford to take the chance?
