Macs May No Longer Be Immune to Viruses

Bill writes "MSNBC reports that the combination of Apple's growing market share and their recent switch to x86 processors has made Mac OS X a new target for viruses. Unfortunately, it seems that many Mac users are in denial. '[Computer security expert Tom] Ferris said he warned Apple of the vulnerabilities in January and February and that the company has yet to patch the holes, prompting him to compare the Cupertino-based computer maker to Microsoft three years ago, when the world's largest software company was criticized for being slow to respond to weaknesses in its products.'"

Comments

Heh.

[c0l0]

One might wonder why this (non-)story is featured on the front page of MSNBC... ;-)

Switch to Intel

[pryonic]

I can see how the increased market share would make them more of a target, but I can't really imagine how the change in CPU would. The vast majority of x86 viruses target Windows using very specific windows API functions or by patching Windows components. If a writer is targetting a x86 Mac, how does the CPU matter, it would just be compiled for that processor.

Maybe we'll be seeing x86 and PPC virus fat binaries?

Re:Switch to Intel

[Rosyna]

I can see how the increased market share would make them more of a target, but I can't really imagine how the change in CPU would

The Harvard architecture that the PowerPC uses is inherently more secure than x86. A remote exploit on running code has a very low chance of working on the PPC, but nearly a 100% chance on the x86 (which is why all these IE exploits work all the time). When they fail to execute code, the PPC application just crashes. I'd think if someone went to a place that causes their browser to crash 10 times in a row, they'd stop trying to go there.

Then again, Apple has taken massive steps on the x86 side to prevent these kinds of attacks. Such as enforcing the NX/XD bit and enforcing a non-executable stack. The former goes a long way, it was even able to prevent the WMF exploit from working on Windows, if it was available in hardware. Luckily, all ICBMs ship with the hardware support.

Re:Immune?

[Scudsucker]

It's just that most virus writers don't give a crap about Macs.

And the fact that Macs never had Outlook, the PC version of Internet Explorer, Active X, ports and services open all over the place, or piss poor priveledge seperation. That is why Macs don't have viruses (Linux as well, for that matter), not because of market share.

Re:Gosh, it does sounds like MS.

[Anonymous Coward]

The advisory is from 9 days ago. It is from a company that would like to sell you stuff related to its advisories. No known instance of the alleged flaws exist publicaly. The descriptions of the flaws do not support the conclusion of either a DOS attack being possible or compromising of one's system. As such, I invite you to use this flaw to do anything to my Mac.

Or, even present me with a URL where I can observe the alleged flaws in the wild.

Your handle, Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289), should be a tip-off that you are not posting about this matter in good faith.

Re:Article is a troll

[rolfwind]

The $2000 barrier to entry you used to have to pay to use OS X (and test exploits against it) no longer exists, if you don't think that makes a difference to hackers (many of whom are in far less afluent countries then you), then quite frankly, you're insane.

I suppose you haven't actually checked the Apple Store the last few years. The barrier of entry has been around $500-600 the last few years. Unless haxors absolutely need l33t 15" Powerbooks instead of a mac mini.

And on that point, wouldn't some haxors love to also be one of the few to make a sucessful virus/trojan/etc OS X or Linux (where's the barrier of entry here?) instead of one of the few thousand for Windows? I thought prestige was some sort of motivation. Pff.

Experts eh?

[Keen Anthony]

Apple's iconic status, growing market share and adoption of same microprocessors used in machines running Windows are making Macs a bigger target, some experts warn.

Sadly those "experts" could not be reached for explanation because they were out buying antivirus software for Linux and FreeBSD - cause, you know, they're both iconic, have a growing market share, and run on the same microprocessors as Windows.

"They didn't know how to deal with security, and I think Apple is in the same situation now," said Ferris, himself a Mac user.

Sure, being a minority OS does mean fewer virus writers targeting the Mac, but Mac OS X has been cool for a few years now, and I'm still waiting for those dangerous viruses. I'd say Apple knows a little something about dealing with security - certainly enough not to pawn off the responsibility to the antivirus aftermarket.

The Mac's vulnerability could also increase as Apple transitions to a product line that uses microprocessors made by Intel Corp., security experts said. With new Macs running the same processor that powers Windows-based machines, far more people will know how to exploit weaknesses in Apple machines than in the past, when they ran on the PowerPC chips made by IBM Corp. and Motorola Corp. spinoff Freescale Semiconductor Inc.

Who are these security experts, and do they work weddings and bar-mitzvahs too? Since when did familiarity with a microprocessor lead to intimacy with an operating system. There's so much I still don't know about BeOS and I've written assembly on PowerPC and x86. The vulnerabilities described in the article may be found here. For the most part, it looks like flaws in the way Safari and Preview handle GIFs, TIFFs, BMPs, and bad ZIPs can cause an application crash, and *possibly* allow code execution (even via certain malformed HTML tags). I've had corrupt graphics files and zip archives crash Preview and Safari in the past, but never any virus-like behavior. Still, it's a good thing to note, but the reporting could have been much better.

Anti-virus company campaign propaganda

[bananaendian]

What? So Macs were immune against viruses?

Seriously, it's way too easy to have a go at this MSNBC BS. What is more worthy to note is the frequency and desperation with which these articles keep appearing, claiming sleeping beauty mac-users are in imminent danger if they continue to refuse to take part in the virus paranoia of the Windows world.

I have been using W2K with no anti-virus software for years with no side effects. Sadly and with amusement do I follow the antics of my fellow XP users with their shiny anti-virus crapware popping up redundant warnings and notifications and slowing the machine to a crawl. And to top the irony they have to turn off anti-virus whenever they install anything or run certain software. And when you go to your workplace or school the machines there have been made almost entirely useless by over zealous protection software.

Having a go at Macs for security is either stupidity or plain propaganda. Security doesn't come from anti-virus programs. It comes from the underlying architecture of the OS and the third-party software having to comply with the security principles of the underlying architecture. Anti-virus software only protects the computer against clueless users and thus it can be claimed that any computer/OS architecture requires some.

And as for the age old user base threshold argument I'm still waiting. OSX has been for some time the most common UNIX based OS. It is remarkable how little vulnerabilities have been found considering the amount of software and services running on OSX by default. Thus, comparatively, statements involving OSX and poor security continue to be plain ludicrous.

As for me I'll merrily continue running my apparently 'immune' W2K box (behind two tailor made firewalls) and wave my greetings and encouragement to my fellow mac users.