The Mac doesn't get PC viruses.

Forums › Desktop computing › The Mac doesn't get PC viruses.

Regs

4066 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Snowflake

#70361 22-Oct-2010 13:53

from here:
http://www.techpaq.co.nz/techbyte/2010_sept/Mac_BannerLanding_1.htm

I think that ingram micro are walking a very fine line with this statement. A Mac is, in fact, a PC (Personal Computer). It is factually incorrect.

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

1 | 2

5060 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#394752 22-Oct-2010 13:57

I totally agree. Nothing is ever 100% safe. They are digging themselves a hole if a Mac they sell does get a virus.

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

ScottStevensNZ

245 posts

Master Geek

#394753 22-Oct-2010 14:00

I suspect that the ad is working on the idea that most people see a PC as a machine running Windows of some description and that a Mac is some how different. Although a Mac uses EFI instead of BIOS the hardware is off the shelf. The main difference is the OS. What the ad I think is saying that a Mac Machine running OSX cannot get a virus designed for a windows based system which is factually correct.

Load & Performance Tester/PHP/JSP/C/PERL/MYSQL/LoadRunner8->11/HTML/CSS/XML/XSLT/2B|!2B/Cervelo Soloist/EMC Equip4/ Samsung Galaxy S /Darkys 10.2 Extreme

Do androids dream of electric sheep?
use strict;
my $sheepCount;

Yes, they can.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#394756 22-Oct-2010 14:16

What happens when you run Windows on it?

pistolpower

139 posts

Master Geek

#394759 22-Oct-2010 14:22

I heard that some people design viruses specifically for macs ^.-.

michaelmurfy

meow
13240 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#394760 22-Oct-2010 14:26

pistolpower: I heard that some people design viruses specifically for macs ^.-.

Hi, I am a Virus running on Michael's Mac, I am Beautiful, don't judge me.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by subscribing.
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

ScottStevensNZ

245 posts

Master Geek

#394764 22-Oct-2010 14:33

graemeh: What happens when you run Windows on it?

If you run windows either in boot camp or virtually then you are open to all the problems that that brings. Virii are a function of the software the box is running, not the hardware. If you had a copy of windows loaded with malware and virii dual booting with OSX on a mac then it can't cross infect the OSX install. OSX has no registry, the API's are not the same, code is compiled differently, memory management is different, a PC virus can not nuke the Macs BIOS as Apple machines don't have a BIOS.

You could load Linux, UNIX or BSD onto a standard dell for instance and that OS would not be able to contract said windows virus. OSX isn't really that much more secure than Windows - its just that there are so few virii out there targeted at the platform - its essentially economies of scale, you write for the bigger installed user base to make your money -the same reason that there is a paucity of games on the mac.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#394767 22-Oct-2010 14:43

ScottStevensNZ:
graemeh: What happens when you run Windows on it?

If you run windows either in boot camp or virtually then you are open to all the problems that that brings.

That's what I thought.

Now here's a challenge for the bored geek, write a virus that infects a Mac via a virtual instance of Windows

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

kiwitrc

4123 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#394772 22-Oct-2010 15:00

Not so sure thats such a good idea.

ScottStevensNZ

245 posts

Master Geek

#394776 22-Oct-2010 15:14

Fortunately, once again its economies of scale. Also, with the archtecture of OSX you would need to gain admin or SUDO privledges to be able to install anything - you would probably also need to issue an execute command for the virus from windows meaning at the very least you'd need to start up an ssh session to the mac - just like if you are trying to use a UNIX machine from windows using telnet - assuming of course you can get past the sand boxing of the virtual machine. The SSH telnet method wouldn't work with boot camp because the OSX environment isn't started - the worst you could do would be write crap to the shared drive which both OSX and Windows use. You could put an executable on it, but the user would then have to run it and provide the login credentials ...

khull

1245 posts

Uber Geek

#394779 22-Oct-2010 15:17

i get trigger happy with attachments, most of them don't run on OS X and those that do require admin privileges

ScottStevensNZ

245 posts

Master Geek

#394782 22-Oct-2010 15:23

Bingo that's exactly it - if its going to anything remotely gnarly it requires you to enter your admin password, and to manually run the app. I'm not saying that OSX isn't without its security holes, because it has ones you could drive a truck and a mariachi band through, its just so far there isn't the market share to bother writing proper virii for, something mac users like me can be grateful for because Apple is known for its fast turn-around on security patches.

bazzer

3438 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#394784 22-Oct-2010 15:27

The PC/Mac thing is all over the place. Why pick on ingram micro? Apple even do it themselves! http://www.apple.com/why-mac/

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#394785 22-Oct-2010 15:28

ScottStevensNZ: Bingo that's exactly it - if its going to anything remotely gnarly it requires you to enter your admin password, and to manually run the app. I'm not saying that OSX isn't without its security holes, because it has ones you could drive a truck and a mariachi band through, its just so far there isn't the market share to bother writing proper virii for, something mac users like me can be grateful for because Apple is known for its fast turn-around on security patches.

he he, just use a "social engineering" type of attack then, tell the Mac user it will make their Mac more exclusive and that Steve Jobs approves - bingo - they will enter the admin password and the mariachi band can start playing :)

ScottStevensNZ

245 posts

Master Geek

#394788 22-Oct-2010 15:33

True, but once again they're not actually saying that the OS is virus proof any more than Linux or Unix is virus proof (although OSX is a certified UNIX system), all they are saying is that OSX is not capable of contracting a windows virus - aka 'PC' to use their own Mac vs PC terms (where PC is what we used to call WINTEL/WAMD). You can't execute a windows virus on OSX any more than you could install Microsoft Office for windows directly on to it. By all means - if you run Windows on the Apple hardware then yes you sure can get hit.

ScottStevensNZ

245 posts

Master Geek

#394791 22-Oct-2010 15:35

he he, just use a "social engineering" type of attack then, tell the Mac user it will make their Mac more exclusive and that Steve Jobs approves - bingo - they will enter the admin password and the mariachi band can start playing :)

Same as any social engineering attack on any OS though really, you can't design to compensate unless the OS is totally locked down on a read only medium.

1 | 2