Has anyone with a Mac gotten a virus or malware?

[RaKroma]

By the true definition, there has never been a virus for Mac OSX. There have been a few malware items, that's it.

People have claimed this "small market" reason for a decade or more, but I've found the argument a little hard to believe in the past few years. Apple has been selling in excess of 10 million computers per year since 2005. In the past 3 years alone they've sold almost 50 million. That's still a mighty fine marketplace for a Russian scam syndicate to attack. And on a personal hacker level, there'd be serious kudos to the guy who wrote the first real killer virus for OSX.And yet we're still waiting.

That's what I've been thinking too. People are buying less PCs that's why mega companies like DELL and HP are struggling in the market, but Apple's Macs and MacBook lines are selling like crazy. Even if there are less Macs in the world, there are still hundreds of millions of them out there. And a lot of businesses and yuppies and hipsters rely on Macs. Why wouldn't there be a few genius hackers in this world to develop a crippling Mac virus in their basement just to prove Apple fans wrong? I'm sure it has been tried by now.

 

[andysayshi]

OMG, a wise, smart, educated 18 year old? Let's hook up!

 

[LemonMonk]

For some reason this topic has really frustrated me. I'll stop reading this before my head explodes, but not before kinda conceding you're nearly right.

Yes, Macs get far less viruses. They can go on and on without anti-virus software and never encounter viruses that does any damage to it. The Unix kernel is one reason for this. It is very secure. If you want something that will probably never experience a virus, going for a Mac is the best bet.

To say that a Mac cannot get a virus is complete and utter rubbish. There are far, far less viruses for Macs, since programmers enjoy using Windows more, they make viruses for Windows more. It is entirely impossible for any to have a 100% safe computer, regardless of OS, Anti-Virus, etc.

It makes more sense to create viruses and malware for Windows platforms, as there is a far wider target audience to exploit/annoy. As there are far more Windows users, viruses can spread faster to other compatible. Windows is less secure than Macs are, another reason for why you'd see more created for Windows.

Due to Windows having far more viruses, more measures have taken place to recognise infected devices and have issues resolved. Mac doesn't have this luxury, albeit a luxury based on insecurities that Windows face.

I feel saying earlier that I know my shit when it comes to IT, has only given some of you a reason to scrutinize my word and wind me up. I'd like to have known where you're getting your facts from when it comes to Macs getting/not getting viruses/malware and even going as far as to say viruses do not exist for Macs. The sources you've been using simply aren't reliable.

 

[andysayshi]

Here is a list of the 38 known pieces of malware for Mac OS X. Note that all of them rate as low risk or less. Also note the author's comment:

Due to the extreme rarity of Mac malware, it's often difficult to find good information about it... very few people have actually ever seen any of it.

And I'll restate my original assertion that, by the dictionary definition of a computer virus (a self-replicating file or program that spreads from computer to computer, usually infecting or affecting other files in the process) there has never been a virus for OS X. As you can see above, there is some rare low risk malware. There are occasional exploits made possible via third parties like Java and Flash.

But the overall risk in the real world to Mac OS X from malicious software is very, very low.

 

[andysayshi]

To say that a Mac cannot get a virus is complete and utter rubbish.

Nobody said that, that I can see.

There are far, far less viruses for Macs, since programmers enjoy using Windows more, they make viruses for Windows more. It is entirely impossible for any to have a 100% safe computer, regardless of OS, Anti-Virus, etc.

I entirely agree.

It makes more sense to create viruses and malware for Windows platforms, as there is a far wider target audience to exploit/annoy. As there are far more Windows users, viruses can spread faster to other compatible. Windows is less secure than Macs are, another reason for why you'd see more created for Windows.

I agree with that too. Which is exactly the point - there is fairly minimal risk on a Mac.

 

[Corny]

Why wouldn't there be a few genius hackers in this world to develop a crippling Mac virus in their basement just to prove Apple fans wrong? I'm sure it has been tried by now.

You all seem to have missed this:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ap...-data-breached/story?id=18539110#.UW8KV7XJQmk

And we are talking about apple employees here. Yes, it was java .. so what? It might be acrobat next. Or something else. Doesn't matter.

 

[andysayshi]

Neither did I.

There are occasional exploits made possible via third parties like Java and Flash.