OSX is safe because Apple says so
Comment | Print | Email to a Friend | Font Size: AAIn a not-so-surprising move Apple has removed the suggestion that Mac users use an Anti Virus solution to protect themselves. They now claim that bulliten was old and that Macs are "safe right out of the box". This comes after the same recomendation was widley reported on.
In an article over at CNET, Elinor Mills says that "There are no known viruses in the wild that exploit a vulnerability in the Mac OS" This flies in the face of what is really going on out there though as yesterday Intego.com reported on a variant of the DNSchanger Virus for OSX, OSX.RSPlug.E Trojan Horse.
Apple has been under fire for never properly fixing an exploit in the way it handles DNS requests after this Virus was released earlier this year.
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Read about the OSX.RSPlug.E Trojan Horse here
"We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate," Apple spokesperson Bill Evans said.
"The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box," he said. "However, since no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat, running antivirus software may offer additional protection."
There are no known viruses in the wild that exploit a vulnerability in the Mac OS, and Windows continues to be the overwhelming preference for malware writers to target their programs. But malware isn't just taking advantage of operating system weaknesses anymore. In fact, the majority of such threats now come from code that targets weaknesses in browsers and other applications that aren't platform specific.
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