Any worries about this new virus report?

jh2112

jh2112

Registered
I am more worried that cnn doesn't seem to understand what a virus is, before publishing a smear article.
 
Mikuro

Mikuro

Crotchety UI Nitpicker
Gaaah! No, I'm not screaming in fear. I'm screaming out of frustration. And no, it's not frustration with the security of my Mac. It's frustration with poorly-written news articles.

I read the whole article hoping for something — anything — about what this "virus" was. There was no info.

So what can I say? I certainly don't think it's impossible that there's another security hole in Safari — Apple took a seriously half-assed approach to fixing the last one, so it's only a matter of time until it springs up again in a slightly different form. But again, what can I say with so little info?

And then there's this:
With new Macs running the same processor that powers Windows-based machines, far more people will know how to exploit weaknesses in Apple machines than in the past, when they ran on the PowerPC chips made by IBM Corp. and Motorola Corp. spinoff Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
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Wow. I didn't know malware writers exploited security holes in Intel's CPUs. Here I thought they exploited software. Silly me. :rolleyes:


If anyone finds some real info on this, please post/link it. My guess is that it's yet another way to take advantage of Safari's "open 'safe' files after downloading" bug...er, I mean feature. EVERYONE should turn that off, regardless of what this "virus" is.
 
M

MisterMe

Registered
It appears that this article originated on the AP. It is available on several outlets. The article credits Benjamin Daines, a member of popular Mac fan site MacRumors.com, as one of the "discoverers" of this "virus." Daines anonymously posted the "discovery" on the site in February 2006.
 
Rhisiart

Rhisiart

Registered
Mikuro said:
I didn't know malware writers exploited security holes in Intel's CPUs. Here I thought they exploited software. Silly me. :rolleyes:
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I suppose they were simply implying that Intel Macs may increase Apple's popularity, thus making it a more likely target for malware writers, rather than what you suggest above.

However, I agree that it's a crummy article, clearly written to get attention through scare tactics.
 
chadwick

chadwick

Registered
Mikuro said:
And then there's this:Wow. I didn't know malware writers exploited security holes in Intel's CPUs. Here I thought they exploited software. Silly me. :rolleyes:
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Don't forget that the Intel architecture's call stack makes it much easier to perform a buffer overflow attack than the PPC architecture, so there is some truth in that statement.
 
Mikuro

Mikuro

Crotchety UI Nitpicker
....oh. So this is the same thing we've already discussed exhaustively then?

And, er, didn't Apple patch that already? I think it's no longer possible to make a script that will be auto-executed by Safari as the article claims. (Of course, not everyone has the latest security updates installed, but still.) Am I mistaken?
 
J

jhawk28

Registered
Notice the title: "unreleased update to his computer's operating system"

If it was really a virus, it was his own fault.

Joshua
 
T

trusurfer03

Registered
isn't it weird too that it says he was trying to view "Pictures of an unreleased update to his computer's operating system"

Why would he be trying to view pictures of this? can an OS update be viewed as an image?
 
J

jt3g

Registered
"isn't it weird too that it says he was trying to view "Pictures of an unreleased update to his computer's operating system"

i think he was probably looking for 10.5 screenshots.
 
camgangrel21

camgangrel21

Mac Programer
All that was trusurfer03 was just AP trying to put up a smoke screen. That was all. I meen they might had just came out and said that it was just a relook at the "Bug" that OS X has. I meen if you go and look at some of what is said by the persons in this story. You will find that they where just takeing a look back a hole that as far as they can see have not been fixed by Apple. This was not even FUD in there part it was just FUD in AP's part. But I guess with haveing to working in an all windows world for so long. Than now when they are faced with new and rock tight OS like the Mac, they are so use to over blowing the little holes that are found. That they can't see anything past there asses. So I guess now that we got them talking now we as Mac users and backers need to stand up and start talking. Not to the prass but the end users. They will belive what you have to say. I know just because of this Boot Camp thing and this AP FUD. I was able to talk the Alvord schools to buy New iMacs for there labs. Now how about that. Just keep one thing in mind. When talking to them don't make them fell like they don't know what your talking about. And last thing remeber this. "They just work." And the kicker is you are able to have fun doing it. That was why Woz put together the Mac the way he did.
 
M

MisterMe

Registered
Mikuro said:
....oh. So this is the same thing we've already discussed exhaustively then?

And, er, didn't Apple patch that already? I think it's no longer possible to make a script that will be auto-executed by Safari as the article claims. (Of course, not everyone has the latest security updates installed, but still.) Am I mistaken?
Click to expand...
No, you are not mistaken. The FUD crowd has not been able to come up with a new fake MacOS X virus, so they revive an old fake virus. It is troubling that the people over at MacRumors.com are proud of themselves because one of its members had his name in the paper.
 
symphonix

symphonix

Scratch & Sniff Committee
The bias in some popular media outlets against Apple is pretty clear. They can blow up a report like this about an old rumour of a virus from 12 months ago that was proven to be false. In the last month, Windows has been victim to no fewer than 60 new viruses. Where is the report about that?

CNN should know better than to publish stories sourced from MacRumors.com without researching them.
 
fryke

fryke

Moderator
Staff member
Mod
Well... Let's just accept that "general" media usually "don't get it". All we can do is send them E-Mails correcting their articles for them. I know: We'd rather do it on a pay-roll, but then again, we help our cause by volunteering here.

I think if this goes on for two more years (i.e. someone publishes "Mac virus found!!!" messages and yet there's no actual virus spreading in the wild for Mac OS X users), we'll start to complain that using a Mac is boring, because you can't really do much about a danger which lurks all over the press but to the actual "endangered" simply isn't there... ;)
 
S

Shookster

Registered
This line was the most interesting for me:

Daines, however, was using a Mac -- an Apple Computer Inc. machine often touted as being immune to such risks.
Click to expand...

With a bit of common sense, they'd realise that nothing is perfect and therefore complete immunity is impossible.

Also check out the ominous lighting in that picture :p
 
Quicksilver

Quicksilver

Find a golden apple.
The media spin their crap at times.... to most using general computers all you need to do is mention virus prone and they think its just plane bad. i see it as a negative media report, not really constructive.
 
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