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Large Prize Offered For Writing Mac Virus
Mordant writes "Some experienced Mac developers are offering a $25K prize to the first person to successfully infect two 'naked' Internet-connected Macs running stock Apple software. The best part is that if any Symantec employee succeeds in infecting the Macs, the prize goes up to $50K (Symantec has been fanning the flames of totally bogus "Macs aren't more secure, it's just that Windows is a bigger target" technical-equivalence propaganda)!" Update: 03/26 20:24 GMT by Z : Well, that was quick. Jack Campbell has cancelled the contest, after he "...was contacted by a large number of Mac users, and Mac software professionals who shared their thinking with me about the contest."
This has got to be one of the stupidest contests of this type I've heard about.
1) If a virus has spread over every Mac on the Internet, then it's harmful.
2) Many people would say that ANY virus is harmful, just by virtue of it being a virus (spreading, infecting.)
3) I'm so sure it's worth $50,000 for Symantec to finally put that "Antivirus companies don't write viruses" myth to bed.
4) We're going to use antivirus software to determine if we've been infected... which will only catch previously known viruses.
5) Hey you guy that wrote the virus that spread to every Mac on the Internet: just identify yourself afterwards, and we'll pay you.
This is the notorious Jack Campbell, one of the shadiest characters around. It's undoubtedly a publicity stunt for his business. What a jerk.
Something tells me it's unlikely you'd ever see the cash, even if you were to succeed.
Google for Jack Campbell and MacTable for more info on this guy's shady past.
Jack Campbell, who is behind this, has been behind a number of rather dubious projects. There's a page about him at Macintouch http://www.macintouch.com/mactable.html.