Re: AUGD: The future is coming soon... or is it?
Re: AUGD: The future is coming soon... or is it?
- Subject: Re: AUGD: The future is coming soon... or is it?
- From: Dale Gillard <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 13:47:35 +1100
On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 06:57:52 EST, at 7:01 AM, Gary wrote:
One of my PeeCee friends passed this on to me saying (smugly),
“Welcome to my
(Intel) world."
Anti-Virus Companies Warn of OS X Worm By Paul F. Roberts, February
17, 2006
I'm not one to raise the red flag first, but I was wondering if this
something to ponder or fret?
This sort of rhetoric should be ignored. The implication is that
Intel processors somehow provide an easy way for virii, malware, etc
to infect a computer. This is false.
The truth is that it's the operating system and its application
software that allow malicious code to exist and propagate. Windows
and Office for Windows account for the vast majority of malware
today. This is because they have been poorly written in regards to
security. For example, admin passwords defauly as 'blank' on most if
not all versions of Windows, and the Visual Basic Applications
scripting language lets any script do whatever it likes with Office
and Windows.
Apple do not use Windows as the OS on Intel based Macs. This is why a
Mac will continue to remain more secure than a PC. Another reason is
that Apple use a UNIX-like operating system that was designed with
security in mind.
And I'm not saying that Mac OS X is perfect, or that we can ignore
malware. Malicious code will get written for Mac OS X and we need to
be prepared. For example, educate members that malware authors will
bait them to opening malicious programs thru 'social engineering'.
That is, entice them with promises of pictures of naked people, or
Mac OS X 10.5 screenshots, etc. ), that you can't trust anyone online
because their computer could have been comprised, and to start using
appropriate programs like firewalls and anti-virus programs eg ClamXAV.
<http://www.clamxav.com/>
I also find it ironic that PC users and media have said all along
that it's Apple's low market share that have saved Mac OS X from
malware. Now we find some of them arguing that it was really the lack
of an Intel chip. You can't have your cake and eat it too!
Dale Gillard
Coffs Harbour Apple Macintosh Users Group
<groups.yahoo.com/group/coffs_mac_users>
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