Mac Security

I hear a lot of people say that there is no Viruses, spyware or hacker threats for the Macs.

I am a computer systems security student and i know for a fact that there is no system out there that is 100% secure. There must be exploit code and viruses out there that will affect a mac.

Why does everyone say its completely secure?
Can anyone recommend a firewall and antivirus?

There are no viruses because they can't gain entry without the Mac user's co-operation. If a user co-operates and loads it, it can't jump to another computer without that user's co-operation.

The only viruses that exist are lab-created proof-of-concepts, and at last count, those totalled two (though, really, they are worms). There is no registry to allow an executable admittance without the user's knowledge.

The Mac has a built-in firewall, and if that and it's so-called Advance options are turned on, the thing's invisible on the net if no router allows any ports to be open. With the firewall and its options on, run Sygate's security scan.

Apple quickly updates any security holes. A few weeks ago a security hole revealed at a hackers' conference (the Mac was hacked only when it's defences were purposely crippled) was patched only three days later.

Yes, exploit code is very easy to find. You can, if you have a masochistic bent, download it to your Mac and compromise it.

But that's the only way your Mac will be compromised. Unlike Windows, there is no "critical mass" of zombie machines on the internet spreading worms. There are no mass-emailed viruses in the wild. It's like a very safe, low-crime neighbourhood: not immune, but might as well be.

See the prominent Anti-Virus and Security sticky for the answer to your questions.

As well, this thread might be worth a read.

What I find entertaining is the comments made by my heathen-box using friends (I live a few miles up the road from Microsoft, and Seattle is just not the most Mac-friendly environment because of it). People seem to have this feeling that no viruses exist because nobody cares about us. "Who wants to write a virus to target 5% of the market?"

My response is: "everyone."

With well over 114,000 viruses in existence for Windows and approximately zero for the Mac, a new virus for Windows just means there 114,001 viruses out there, and nobody will pay much attention to it. Since many virus authors are simply megalomaniacs looking for some attention, wouldn't far more attention be paid to the first person who writes a Mac virus?

Besides, Macs have more market share now than they did back in the OS 8 days, and yet there were viruses back in those days, so I think that defeats their argument.

Well done that man! My thoughts exactly.

I am a computer systems security student and i know for a fact that there is no system out there that is 100% secure. There must be exploit code and viruses out there that will affect a mac

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Correct, but OS X is 99%+ secure, which is good enough for most people.

djames42 said:

Besides, Macs have more market share now than they did back in the OS 8 days, and yet there were viruses back in those days, so I think that defeats their argument.

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The only Mac "viruses" I remember from back then were the MS Office (mostly MS Word) Macro-Viruses. These still can, IIRC, impact MS Office on the Mac in it's current incarnation.