Actual Viruses / Spyware / Malware for OS X???

[yellow]

virii isn't a word. It's viruses.

Correct.

I think the occurance of people who were affected by "Opener" was very, very, very, very low. In fact, you have a better chance of your Mac being cracked/hacked then you do of getting a virus. Or viruses.

 

[sushi]

Hi there

I wonder, has anyone on these boards ever encountered, personally, a real Virus on their Mac? Or a real bit of Spyware, or basically any actual Malware?

I have searched these forums and have found various explanations of why OSX is immune or nearly immune to such nasties. Some of these explanations are based on technical arguments, some are based on faith. I have also found a few threads go something like "I heard of a friend..." or "I read somewhere..." or "According to Symantec...". This isn't what my question is about.

So has anyone ever experienced, first hand, real spyware / malware / spyware on their Mac?

Regards
Superleccy

I have been running X, since it came out, behind a Router.

I have no virus protection apps, nor have my Macs running X caught one.

I also have a PC or two on my network. They don't catch anything either, until that is, I put an infected PC on my network and within seconds (about 30) the bad PC infected my good PC. However, my Macs just kept on running with out catching anything.

Sushi

 

[grapes911]

No.

and xmiinc, virii isn't a word. It's viruses.

In some circles, virii and/or viri is accepted as slang. But it's not normally used and never in formal or semiformal speech or writing.

 

[ohcrap]

In some circles, virii and/or viri is accepted as slang. But it's not normally used and never in formal or semiformal speech or writing.

Such as the dictionary?

Also, I want to add (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that it is just as likely for a Mac to obtain a virus or a form or malware as it is for a PC, but our Mac's are not running an OS (*cough* WINDOWS *cough cough*) that is capable of running the codes/scripts so no damage can be done to our systems. We are typically carriers, if I understand correctly.

 

[satans_banjo]

Such as the dictionary?

Also, I want to add (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that it is just as likely for a Mac to obtain a virus or a form or malware as it is for a PC, but our Mac's are not running an OS (*cough* WINDOWS *cough cough*) that is capable of running the codes/scripts so no damage can be done to our systems. We are typically carriers, if I understand correctly.

that's not actually true - even if someone designed a virus for mac specifically, it would not be able to access root priviledges to do the things a virus does. as well as that, before anything is installed an admin password is needed. if someone tried to install a cracker to crack this password, they'd need to use the password to install this. it's a pity not all OS's are based on UNIX

 

[yellow]

We are typically carriers, if I understand correctly.

That's a loaded observation.

I might get the occational spam/virus/malware email, but I'm not about to forward it onto other people.

 

[Stampyhead]

Never had any viruses, and I've been using Macs since 1993.
If you are using Virtual PC, one thing to remember is that the version of Windows you are running can become infected. Even though you are running it on a Mac, it is still Windows and still susceptible to viruses and spyware. I do not have experience with this, I just heard it the other day and thought I would pass it on.

 

[ohcrap]

that's not actually true - even if someone designed a virus for mac specifically, it would not be able to access root priviledges to do the things a virus does. as well as that, before anything is installed an admin password is needed. if someone tried to install a cracker to crack this password, they'd need to use the password to install this. it's a pity not all OS's are based on UNIX

Ahhh... I see!

Thanks for the correction.

 

[JDOG_]

No!

I too paid for Virus software in the past. Waste of money, and usability of my computer. The program *whose company rhymes with Dydantic* was a P.O.S.

 

[MisterMe]

I read this article the other day. I believe it gives you a pretty unbiased picture of OS X's security situation.

Even at that, the article gets it wrong. Most Mac viruses date back to the days of System 6. Even then, they were just annoyances for the most part. I have never heard of any serious damage done by any MacOS virus. By the time that System 7 was introduced, antiviral software had virtually eliminated viruses as a serious threat to Macs. Probably the most serious virus during the System 7 era was an infamous Word 6 macrovirus that converted documents to stationery. This was the first cross-platform virus. [Thank you, Microsoft.] During the days of MacOS 8 and 9, we were getting fewer than one new Mac virus per year. If you did not run Microsoft Word or Excel, the days of MacOS 9 were virtually virus-free. Most people know that there are no MacOS X viruses, but the Classic MacOS was pretty good in this regard.

 

[~Shard~]

No virii ever encountered on a Mac.

There is no such word as virii. The correct plural of virus is viruses. Man, if I had a nickel for every time I've had to explain this I'd be a rich man...

Hey Shard, it is not a disease or virus.

Rather it is a product feature!

I suppose that's one way of looking at it...

 

[yellow]

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I've had to explain this I'd be a rich man...

Which brings to mind my petpeeve about "MAC" and my missing riches..

 

[ohcrap]

Which brings to mind my petpeeve about "MAC" and my missing riches..

I find it interesting how no one seems to be too bothered by people calling it "OS X 10.x.x".

 

[risc]

I find it interesting how no one seems to be too bothered by people calling it "OS X 10.x.x".

You mean like Apple?

http://www.apple.com/macosx/

 

[ohcrap]

You mean like Apple?

http://www.apple.com/macosx/

Yeah, wtf Apple??

Am I wrong here, though? Isn't "OS X 10.4" incorrect in the same way as saying "For your FYI"?

 

[risc]

Am I wrong here, though? Isn't "OS X 10.4" incorrect

Considering I just provided a link to the company that makes the OS YES YOU ARE WRONG.

A simple About This Mac on any Mac will show

Mac OS X as the OS name and then the version number 10.4.3 in my case.

 

[solvs]

There is no such word as virii. The correct plural of virus is viruses.

Actually, I've heard there is no correct plural. So the plural form of virus would actually be virus. Like moose.

And yeah, not a one. Ever. Antivirus software for Macs are mostly there to stop you from accidently passing on PC viruses. Ah, see there, I did it too.

 

[ohcrap]

Considering I just provided a link to the company that makes the OS YES YOU ARE WRONG.

A simple About This Mac on any Mac will show

Mac OS X as the OS name and then the version number 10.4.3 in my case.

Gees, didn't realize you were so sensitive. Glad you aren't a teacher because I was just asking to learn, not to prove Apple wrong or something. Sheesh..

I guess I won't bother linking solvs to Dictionary.com's definition of virus for fear of being shut down with the almighty ALL CAPS.

 

[risc]

Gees, didn't realize you were so sensitive. Glad you aren't a teacher because I was just asking to learn, not to prove Apple wrong or something. Sheesh..

I guess I won't bother linking solvs to Dictionary.com's definition of virus for fear of being shut down with the almighty ALL CAPS.

Hey I'm not sensitive at all you are the one who pulled out the WTF Apple, I personally don't care what you call OS X I'm just letting you know the correct way to write it.

 

[ohcrap]

Yeah, wtf Apple??

Smily is there for a reason, but anyways, we're ruining this thread, or if you'd rather, I'm ruining this thread so I'm done.

Sorry everyone, ignore us, lol.

 

[solvs]

I guess I won't bother linking solvs to Dictionary.com's definition of virus for fear of being shut down with the almighty ALL CAPS.

I would say I stand corrected, but it also notes the Latin root. I've heard that there is not official plural. Maybe there is now (unofficially maybe). I don't know. I don't actually really care. I'm just tired of being corrected when I say viruses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus

 

[~Shard~]

I would say I stand corrected, but it also notes the Latin root. I've heard that there is not official plural. Maybe there is now (unofficially maybe). I don't know. I don't actually really care. I'm just tired of being corrected when I say viruses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus

Can we at least agree it's not virii? It's either viruses or nothing. But definitely not virii.

 

[andcraig]

What was your virus, andcraig? I guess from your post that it was MS Office related. What did it do? How did you get it? How did you get rid of it?

My guidance counselour forwarded an email with a macro virus in it that infects Word.
Opened up the doc she sent..wasn't smart enough to click disable macros..and it did it. Pretty much infected all files opened from when it infected the machine and would attempt to save the files as a random file name. Not horrible but annoying and generally a mess.
Getting rid of it was exciting.
Hooked it up when in disc mode to some G5's at school that had norton installed and ran that..didn't find anything.
So i looked around online, turns out you just delete the ms word folder in users or somewhere, its like microsoft settings. Fixed it right up. Problem is however, you then need to open copy all the text from the infected files and put it into new files. Luckily i only had opened like 3.
Yeah.

 

[Melkor]

Never had any viruses, and I've been using Macs since 1993.
If you are using Virtual PC, one thing to remember is that the version of Windows you are running can become infected. Even though you are running it on a Mac, it is still Windows and still susceptible to viruses and spyware. I do not have experience with this, I just heard it the other day and thought I would pass it on.

If your Virtual PC becomes infected, can that spread to other applications aswell or does it just affect the VPC programme?

 

[mkrishnan]

Mac OS X as the OS name and then the version number 10.4.3 in my case.

This can be resolved and simultaneously annoy lots of purists if you say "OS Ex" instead of "OS Ten."