The worm in my apple

Zammy-Sam

Zammy-Sam

Desertchild
Nice title, huh? ;)

A friend of mine living in the darkside once asked me, if there are any worms or virus for mac too.
I am not sure. I don't have any antivirus tool installed, even though I could download a free virex from my mac.com-account.
So, is there any need? Macs are getting more popular.. does that mean we should fear the future?
 
You should fear worms and virii if the Mac's market share becomes 25% or thereabouts, because then the Mac will be a viable target.

I read somewhere that Windows has had over 50,000 virii while the Mac has only had about 300, ever. So I really don't think you need to worry about contracting a virus right now.
 
What are the danger signs for mac virii?

I know (from my past life!) that most pc problems stem from .exe attachments, but don't know what to look for with OSX...

Does anyone know?

:confused:
 
Anye-mail extensions that look questionable, like .app or with an applescript icon. I really wouldn't worry about it that much, just use common sense.
 
New virus will probably not use the complex .app system, but be simpler UNIX executable...
 
chevy - sorry to be dense, but what does that mean exactly?

what does an executable UNIX program look like?

is it still safe to just assume that if one doesn't open attachments from unknown sources / or ones that appear to be from friends but that don't "feel right" in terms of typical style etc. that one shouldn't experience problems?

:confused:
 
Virus (and other worms) have several mecanisms. Either they use the lowest level control of the machine to pass (below the computer's securities) or they use mecanisms that are in the operating system (like all these Winows communication channels between softare elements).

On the MacOS, it is probably easier to use the UNIX level to activate programs like "sendmail" to propagate a virus and maybe play/modify the firewall.
 
How does it look like ? Like any other file (no specific extension). The only point is to activate it the very first time, then it can become a batch that is activated by your system.
 
The main 'problems' for virus-creators on Mac OS X are the following, in my view...

1) UNIX. Your user doesn't have the rights to change system stuff without authenticating. So there'll still be a user-interaction.

2) A mail message per se can't use the system to automatically send itself to your address book entries afaik. Which is the main problem of those Outlook virii on the Windows platform(s).

Someone just sending you a UNIX executable (compiled for Mac OS X/Darwin) alone won't do you much harm. You'll have to execute the thing by hand. Question is: Would you? (You'd have to do it in Terminal!) Sure, the sender could trick you into doing it, using quite a complicated introduction to using the thing...)

Now, worms are a bit different, of course. If a security hole is found in Mac OS X (theoretically speaking), a worm could open a port (or two) on your computer, through which it tries to get on to other Mac OS X computers. Each infected computer would then try to infect others.

However: Usually, the aim of such a worm is to attack a system (or several) once it has spread. Now while we all hope that Mac OS X' user base gets more than 5% of the market one day, today it has not. Plus it's easier to create worms on Windows for Windows. So if an attacker's goal is to bring down a site or a system, its effectiveness is just higher if the thing works on Windows instead of the Mac.

Btw.: Isn't this the wrong forum for such a discussion?
 
So... if there has to be user interaction... either we have to open an application or script attachment from someone.... or.... what if some sicko made some virus or something, put it on versiontracker as "Wash-Yer-Dishes-For-You.app", THEN we'd be screwed.... 'cause we'd all want our Macs to wash our dishes for us.

We're not immune. Just lucky that we're all nice, so far.
 
It's the right forum to discuss something that is just an idea and cannot happen. No ?

Isn't it a typical café discussion ?
 
They hacker and programmer of viruses and worms really trick you. I remember this "show" of a friend who asked me to open a jpg-file over my internetexplorer (pc). And guess what? The CD-Rom carriage just opened. Well, it was a very harmless script, but it could have been something really disgusting as well. And how did I run this script? Trying to open a jpg-file... (the trick was about ie active-x I think...)
So, who knows how easy scripts can be started on mac-machines?
Might sound a bit weird, but all those virus- and worm-attacks on windows machines are making windows kinda bulletproved. I believe windows might be the more secure os in the future. What do you guys think?
 
The biggest concern you probably should have right now is blindly typing in Terminal commands if you are downloading or testing sample *nix stuff off the Net. Much more subtle than the Wash-Dishes.app route since if you are not totally familiar with what the commands do, you could be doing the worm's work without realizing it...
 
Originally posted by fryke
Someone just sending you a UNIX executable (compiled for Mac OS X/Darwin) alone won't do you much harm. You'll have to execute the thing by hand. Question is: Would you? (You'd have to do it in Terminal!)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately in Panther, all you need to do in the latest builds is double click the executable and it will open in Terminal. This can be a really bad foreseeable problem with virii, as one can imagine. :(
 
As Microsoft fixes certain holes in their OS, they usually overlook others or introduce entirely new problems. I doubt they'll be more secure than the Mac OS anytime soon.
 
Originally posted by Ricky
Unfortunately in Panther, all you need to do in the latest builds is double click the executable and it will open in Terminal. This can be a really bad foreseeable problem with virii, as one can imagine. :(
Click to expand...

We're DOOMED! DOOMED I TELL YOU! DOOOOOOMED!

This sounds like a feature that should be "off" by default, but be an option for power-users who know what they're futzing with.
 
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