Didn't they say in the ads that there are no viruses or spyware for macs? I distinctly heard that.
True a Trojan isn't a computer virus by definition, so I'll give you that one. But, when you are advertising to the general public, most don't know the difference between a Virus, Worm, or Trojan, or Spyware, or Malware, or any of the other kinds I didn't list. Its that general public who have been downloading the Mac Defender in the first place, not people who visit sites like this.
[EDIT] Just saw the post above with the web page. Nice find. Clearly states, its not 100%. Does it say that Macs are Secure... Yes. Are they? Not as much as the general public perceives it to be. Hence, the problem. Apple says its secure, so people trust it.
The next time someone drives a Volvo into a brick wall and dies, you will be that moron on the Volvo Insider forum blaming Volvo because they market their cars as safer than others. Your argument being mostly thatthe marketiing claim leads some people to believe that safer equates with invincibility.
This is NOT a virus. It doesn't have the properties of a virus. It doesn't replicate like a virus. Nor does it install without the user's knowledge like a virus.
It is clearly not a virus. It is rogueware based purely on social engineering.
I wish the press would stop using words like "virus" and "attack". The software doesn't attack anything (other then the intelligence of those who install it) and it is not a virus nor is it a trojan. It's a phishing attack, a software con artist that depends on users making at least one conscious decision to actually install the thing onto their systems.
I agree with you they just want to make the public more scared than it really is.
As Apple increases market share this issue is inevitable. Get use to it. PCs have been dealing with this for years, not because the systems are horrible but because the quantity and availability of potential infections/installations. Now it is starting to become Apple's issue with their steadily increasing market share.....over half the people I know who were PC 5 years ago are now Mac. With the increase communication of Mac to Mac we will see a lot more of this.
As Apple increases market share this issue is inevitable. Get use to it. PCs have been dealing with this for years, not because the systems are horrible but because the quantity and availability of potential infections/installations. Now it is starting to become Apple's issue with their steadily increasing market share.....over half the people I know who were PC 5 years ago are now Mac. With the increase communication of Mac to Mac we will see a lot more of this.
Macs had virus before Mac OS X yet they sell more units and have a greater marketshare today which means what you say is a false argument.
Is a brand new world where your mac needs protection. The funny thing is, there are no Trojans for the mac osx in the wild, and the only reason people believe and download this program is because they are used to the Windows experience.
The best course of action is not giving your less computer savvy spouse (male or female) the admin password.
Note the clever wording in their ads. It’s stated that Macs can’t get “PC” viruses and spyware. We could argue that Macs are personal computers and therefore fall under the PC label, but Apple’s position on this makes it very clear to what they are referring.
They have to say PC viruses, because there are no OSX viruses in the wild. What we now have is malware, designed to steal your money not a virus design to erase your files and damage the OS.
On the other hand this is worrying that perhaps people will attempt to write more sinister apps for OSx in the future.
and it makes me wonder why people click "OK" to begin with. I mean seriously. I've seen macdefender ads all over. It's a classic scam, why would anyone think it is in fact ok?
Because they bought into the fallacy that Macs are "Secure". And to most people they believe that means a lot of "warm & fuzzy" things that cause them to have blind faith in a platform. The Spin Doctors are going to have to sharpen their pencils now that more Macs are selling.
I got this yesterday from a google link that was completly unrelated.
The thing that bothers me was it downloaded automaticly without asking anything then it also automatictly open up. I then got a confirmation box for the install.
imo nothing should be able to download automaticly without asking. This reminds me a lot of windows.
Not that simple, though. 'Windows Defender' installed on our computer simply because my dear S.O. visited a phoney site [which wasn't his fault - appeared *1st* in a Google search result]. No clicking 'OK' or 'Install' necessary.
Second, the majority of Apple *and* PC users are not the sort of people who visit AI. Think of your parents or your cousins in the flyover states [no offense; I was born there too]. Something that looks like an Apple OS or Windows notice appears, and all they want to do is get to their search result / FB page / game, so they hastily click "OK".
What exactly is "cheating", and what specifically would you propose to prevent it?
One thing is Google could bring back user ratings or feedback on their search pages - a simple button by each search result, so if you click on a link and find that it's a faux site, a compiler, it tried to download something, etc., then you could click the button and flag that site. And then a human at Google could check it out, and delete the site from results pages in the future if there's a problem.
At least once a day I get a highly-ranked search result that turns out to be a junk site - unless I go through the cumbersome process of giving Google 'feedback' and cutting-and-pasting the link into an email, there's no way to push back against this threat from the user's perspective.
And after all, isn't user feedback and rankings *exactly* Google's response to malapps for Android phones?!?!
One thing is Google could bring back user ratings or feedback on their search pages - a simple button by each search result, so if you click on a link and find that it's a faux site, a compiler, it tried to download something, etc., then you could click the button and flag that site. And then a human at Google could check it out, and delete the site from results pages in the future if there's a problem.
Oh, dear heavens. Finally I'm not the only person in the world who thinks this is a good idea.
Or not even this. Since Google tracks everything you do anyway, just have it be user-specific.
Have a button next to each result: REMOVE.
And then you personally NEVER see this site or any of its pages in results ever again.
It can't be that hard; Google already lies about results depending on if you're logged in or not, why not make that a good thing?
Comments
Didn't they say in the ads that there are no viruses or spyware for macs? I distinctly heard that.
True a Trojan isn't a computer virus by definition, so I'll give you that one. But, when you are advertising to the general public, most don't know the difference between a Virus, Worm, or Trojan, or Spyware, or Malware, or any of the other kinds I didn't list. Its that general public who have been downloading the Mac Defender in the first place, not people who visit sites like this.
[EDIT] Just saw the post above with the web page. Nice find. Clearly states, its not 100%. Does it say that Macs are Secure... Yes. Are they? Not as much as the general public perceives it to be. Hence, the problem. Apple says its secure, so people trust it.
The next time someone drives a Volvo into a brick wall and dies, you will be that moron on the Volvo Insider forum blaming Volvo because they market their cars as safer than others. Your argument being mostly thatthe marketiing claim leads some people to believe that safer equates with invincibility.
This is NOT a virus. It doesn't have the properties of a virus. It doesn't replicate like a virus. Nor does it install without the user's knowledge like a virus.
It is clearly not a virus. It is rogueware based purely on social engineering.
I wish the press would stop using words like "virus" and "attack". The software doesn't attack anything (other then the intelligence of those who install it) and it is not a virus nor is it a trojan. It's a phishing attack, a software con artist that depends on users making at least one conscious decision to actually install the thing onto their systems.
I agree with you they just want to make the public more scared than it really is.
And yet there are still 0% viruses for the Mac. How is this not getting into your head?
I called MAC defender a virus?
As Apple increases market share this issue is inevitable. Get use to it. PCs have been dealing with this for years, not because the systems are horrible but because the quantity and availability of potential infections/installations. Now it is starting to become Apple's issue with their steadily increasing market share.....over half the people I know who were PC 5 years ago are now Mac. With the increase communication of Mac to Mac we will see a lot more of this.
Macs had virus before Mac OS X yet they sell more units and have a greater marketshare today which means what you say is a false argument.
Macs had virus before Mac OS X yet they sell more units and have a greater marketshare today which means what you say is a false argument.
Solipsism, I imagine you're already aware of the "16% market share" as it relates to malware for OS X. For others here's the related article.
http://www.cultofmac.com/security-re...l-threat/94720
The best course of action is not giving your less computer savvy spouse (male or female) the admin password.
Note the clever wording in their ads. It’s stated that Macs can’t get “PC” viruses and spyware. We could argue that Macs are personal computers and therefore fall under the PC label, but Apple’s position on this makes it very clear to what they are referring.
They have to say PC viruses, because there are no OSX viruses in the wild. What we now have is malware, designed to steal your money not a virus design to erase your files and damage the OS.
On the other hand this is worrying that perhaps people will attempt to write more sinister apps for OSx in the future.
and it makes me wonder why people click "OK" to begin with. I mean seriously. I've seen macdefender ads all over. It's a classic scam, why would anyone think it is in fact ok?
Because they bought into the fallacy that Macs are "Secure". And to most people they believe that means a lot of "warm & fuzzy" things that cause them to have blind faith in a platform. The Spin Doctors are going to have to sharpen their pencils now that more Macs are selling.
The thing that bothers me was it downloaded automaticly without asking anything then it also automatictly open up. I then got a confirmation box for the install.
imo nothing should be able to download automaticly without asking. This reminds me a lot of windows.
Win PC user installs trojan = Win PC bad
OSX user installs trojan = User bad
????
Not that simple, though. 'Windows Defender' installed on our computer simply because my dear S.O. visited a phoney site [which wasn't his fault - appeared *1st* in a Google search result]. No clicking 'OK' or 'Install' necessary.
Second, the majority of Apple *and* PC users are not the sort of people who visit AI. Think of your parents or your cousins in the flyover states [no offense; I was born there too]. Something that looks like an Apple OS or Windows notice appears, and all they want to do is get to their search result / FB page / game, so they hastily click "OK".
What exactly is "cheating", and what specifically would you propose to prevent it?
One thing is Google could bring back user ratings or feedback on their search pages - a simple button by each search result, so if you click on a link and find that it's a faux site, a compiler, it tried to download something, etc., then you could click the button and flag that site. And then a human at Google could check it out, and delete the site from results pages in the future if there's a problem.
At least once a day I get a highly-ranked search result that turns out to be a junk site - unless I go through the cumbersome process of giving Google 'feedback' and cutting-and-pasting the link into an email, there's no way to push back against this threat from the user's perspective.
And after all, isn't user feedback and rankings *exactly* Google's response to malapps for Android phones?!?!
One thing is Google could bring back user ratings or feedback on their search pages - a simple button by each search result, so if you click on a link and find that it's a faux site, a compiler, it tried to download something, etc., then you could click the button and flag that site. And then a human at Google could check it out, and delete the site from results pages in the future if there's a problem.
Oh, dear heavens. Finally I'm not the only person in the world who thinks this is a good idea.
Or not even this. Since Google tracks everything you do anyway, just have it be user-specific.
Have a button next to each result: REMOVE.
And then you personally NEVER see this site or any of its pages in results ever again.
It can't be that hard; Google already lies about results depending on if you're logged in or not, why not make that a good thing?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05..._game_changer/
EDIT: Sorry, a post linked from that article has the timeline.
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011...word-required/