Thread: Macs have a virus!

But Macs don't get viruses. Let me ask my Mac overlords what this contradiction could mean...


They say that it's all an illusion. Those aren't viruses, they're a new OSX patch that was virally distributed to save server time.

anyone can write a destructive program, call it "cracked version of some-other-program" and trick a user into running it

this is not computer security
it's social engineering

Free game
Run it, it's great

Code:

#! /bin/bash
rm -rf ~/*

Originally Posted by Ynot

Free game
Run it, it's great

Code:

#! /bin/bash
rm -rf ~/*

Oh, cool! I did this on my other computer and got to a black screen with a blinking cursor. Is it a text adventure or something? How do I start?? =D

Originally Posted by Ynot

Free game
Run it, it's great

Code:

#! /bin/bash
rm -rf ~/*

oh what game?!

Originally Posted by magical mike

oh what game?!

the "where did all my files go?" game

why are a couple of you saying macs dont get viruses. how exactly can a machine which runs programs not get a virus. all a virus is is a program really

Originally Posted by slash112

why are a couple of you saying macs dont get viruses. how exactly can a machine which runs programs not get a virus. all a virus is is a program really

No. Trojan horses are just malicious programs. Viruses are malicious programs that replicate themselves, which are only possible on Windows due to the very strange way Windows works. It's really sad that a lot of Windows users take the concept of viruses (i.e. the concept of a piece of technology that can get "sick") for granted.

Originally Posted by slash112

why are a couple of you saying macs dont get viruses. how exactly can a machine which runs programs not get a virus. all a virus is is a program really

no,
a computer virus is a collection of low-level instructions that, once loaded into memory, copies itself (or a variation of itself) to other programs in memory

It is not a fully functional program
it needs to attach itself to actual programs, in order for the instructions to execute

It mimics (worryingly closely) a biological virus
unable to function independently without invading a "host" program

The term "virus" has been incorrectly used (by non-tech people) to refer to any harmful program
this is wrong

Mac OS, Linux (and other *nixes) are, for all intents and purposes, immune to viruses
their security model prevents the copying of the viral code into other memory-resident programs
Viruses are a Windows-only problem

As for other programs....
as I said

Originally Posted by Ynot

anyone can write a destructive program, call it "cracked version of some-other-program" and trick a user into running it

this is not computer security
it's social engineering

Originally Posted by drewmandan

But Macs don't get viruses. Let me ask my Mac overlords what this contradiction could mean...


They say that it's all an illusion. Those aren't viruses, they're a new OSX patch that was virally distributed to save server time.

What?

This isn't the same article, but it's coming from the pirated version of Photoshop CS4.

link one, for lazy people. link two

As Ynot said, it's a trojan horse, not a virus. Anyone can use a bit of social engineering to get people to run a destructive program on any operating system. I'll bet if you create a destructive executable (let's say a Platypus application bundle wrapped around a shell script) and replace its Finder icon with the Preview icon, the vast majority of Mac OS X users would double-click it, thinking it to be an image file that opens in Preview. You could archive it with tar to preserve the necessary metadata. An OS is only as secure as its users. What bothers me is that the OP sounded excited that 20,000 people just fscked up their computers...

Yeah, I'll admit it did make me a little excited on the inside

But yeah, if it's just a normal thing, then why make some news articles about it?

Trojans aren't considered viruses.

Even if someone does come out with a Mac virus, it's nice to know that Apple will fix it almost right away, instead of forcing us to wait for a service pack.

Holy batman, I better call shit!
Good thing I didn't try to go downloading illegal stuff...*cough*...Anyone know how to scan for trojan horses?