Will MacIntel Be Suseptible to Viruses?

I was just wondering if anyone had heard if Mac OS X on Intel chips (MacIntel) would be suseptible to viruses like PC's.

It isn't the processors that make them vulnerable to viruses, it's the operating system

no the viruses aren't based on hardware it's the OS you use. windows is so huge with so many users that's why there are viruses. why would someone want to only target a market of 3% of all users? now if OS X became the new operating system and beat windows out, then we would have a problem haha

Apple could be a target if someone choose to make it. All online connections are, in one way or another, is my understanding.

I have to think it must be pretty resistant though....no way that hackers would resist the challange of a virus just because the market share is small. A Mac virus would have to be a goal of any self respecting scum sucking hacker or spyware vendor if they could.

Isn't OS X UNIX based? A Mach microkernel with BSD extensions? I thought the only viruses for UNIX since it was made (1968?) were only proof of concept, and you still had to enter the root password.

I don't think OS X ever gives the user total root access, only 'administrator' which is a little less than root's privilages. Even if OS X on Intel becomes the dominant OS, I don't think there will be too much of a problem. I'm sure there would be viruses (for os x) and spyware (for safari), but not as much as is on Windows now. Just imho.

mac viruses are possible

actually, it is possible to make a mac virus. i have a friend who knows how to mkae viruses and s/he has made them for linux, and when s/he put them on a mac it worked perfectly well, therefore, it is very simple to make a mac virus work and the main reason that they are not there is because the market share is so small. but don't think that it's impossibe.

It would more a long the lines when a virus for OS X shows up in the wild. How long would it take Apple to patch the problem area.

I don't know what your friend created, but problem for a unix virus is to be able get it to spread.

rman said:

It would more a long the lines when a virus for OS X shows up in the wild. How long would it take Apple to patch the problem area.

I don't know what your friend created, but problem for a unix virus is to be able get it to spread.

Click to expand...

If you install windoze on your macintel box.... It'll get a virus just like any other windoze machine.

heh you are all forgetting the weakest link in the entire chain ... the end user

I know a lot of you here will have a look at what is happening when the 'enter root password' prompt appears but a majority of users won't and just enter it anyway

Windows CAN be a halfway secure enviroment but not out of the box and defiantly not without a 'power' user setting it up.