Average Mac User Faced Nine Malware Threats Last Year, but OS X Remains Minor Target

OS X remains a tiny fraction of devices in use. Go figure.

As marketshare increases (which has been happening for years), OS X will become a more enticing target - although at this point, Windows is so much larger, it would seem OS X would need to get a much larger PC market share (20%-30%) before it really gets put in the bad guys sights.

Hogwash. I'm sick of hearing this marketshare argument. How do you explain that before OS X, there were more viruses/malware threats on the Mac for OS 8 alone than there have been for OS X's decade+ old reign? This isn't about marketshare.

Here's the thing that people love to forget: OS X is damn secure. It's a UNIX system. Apple implement so many security features to prevent malware installations. They put additional sandboxes to ensure that if a malicious application is installed, it can't edit or access any of the really important stuff (protected by root, blah blah).

How many hackers out there would love to make a Mac-bricking virus? How many hackers would love to have that under their belt -- those brilliant brownie points of screwing a smug Mac users' computer. But it hasn't been done -- yet.

And that's down to marketshare? No, it's because OS X is difficult, if not practically impossible, to hack. With every new iteration of OS X they make more under-the-hood changes. With Mavericks they even changed how third-party apps used Accessibility features, to increase security.

Fact is: Windows is easy to screw. You can delete some registry entries even without admin privileges. All the services are stored in the registry. Windows updates, every single core function, or file allocation, is buried somewhere in the registry. The amount of times I've remoted into a computer to see the Windows Firewall/Update service deleted. Not 'disabled', full on deleted. Simply a folder deleted from the registry, and boom -- a right PITA to fix.

Microsoft are an utter joke when it comes to things like this. Using the marketshare argument is frankly a total insult to the OS X programmers, Apple's mentality, and people who get inundated with calls about malware/viruses on Windows PCs.

You're right, OSX is very secure and stable, but OSX is still only around 5-7% of the market. That always has been a factor and remains so. We're just not worth the effort for them.

That's nonsense. The first hacker to hit a huge percentage of Macs to "prove" that they're insecure would have HUGE bragging rights, regardless of the install base.

That doesn't happen because they can't. Period.

Mac Users better thank the Unix Kernel and GateKeeper2 Technology for only have just 9 malware virus. I can only image Windows.

Please be careful with the terminology you use. Malware =/= virus. I am still unaware of any legitimate virus on a Mac, i.e. malicious software that attacks without intervention from the user.

On the other hand, no system is secure against malware, i.e. software that requires the user to install it. Granted it may be very sneaky about it, but the only way bad software gets on a Mac is if a careless or ignorant user puts in on. And I don't mean ignorant in a pejorative way, just a not aware way.

……...OS X remains a tiny fraction of devices being targeted.

OS X remains a tiny fraction of devices in use. Go figure.

And their users are typically painted as people with money to burn who less computer savvy. Seems like a prime set of targets.

This is a myth, mac users are in no way less tech savvy than windows users in general.

Hogwash. I'm sick of hearing this marketshare argument. How do you explain that before OS X, there were more viruses/malware threats on the Mac for OS 8 alone than there have been for OS X's decade+ old reign? This isn't about marketshare.

Here's the thing that people love to forget: OS X is damn secure. It's a UNIX system. Apple implement so many security features to prevent malware installations. They put additional sandboxes to ensure that if a malicious application is installed, it can't edit or access any of the really important stuff (protected by root, blah blah).

How many hackers out there would love to make a Mac-bricking virus? How many hackers would love to have that under their belt -- those brilliant brownie points of screwing a smug Mac users' computer. But it hasn't been done -- yet.

And that's down to marketshare? No, it's because OS X is difficult, if not practically impossible, to hack. With every new iteration of OS X they make more under-the-hood changes. With Mavericks they even changed how third-party apps used Accessibility features, to increase security.

Fact is: Windows is easy to screw. You can delete some registry entries even without admin privileges. All the services are stored in the registry. Windows updates, every single core function, or file allocation, is buried somewhere in the registry. The amount of times I've remoted into a computer to see the Windows Firewall/Update service deleted. Not 'disabled', full on deleted. Simply a folder deleted from the registry, and boom -- a right PITA to fix.

Microsoft are an utter joke when it comes to things like this. Using the marketshare argument is frankly a total insult to the OS X programmers, Apple's mentality, and people who get inundated with calls about malware/viruses on Windows PCs.

Market share argument is easier to digest for non-OSX crowd, not the truth.

The truth is, OS X is damn secure and stable, but the majority of windows users (who like the market share argument) are not ready to admit it.

OS X remains a tiny fraction of devices in use. Go figure.

And their users are typically painted as people with money to burn who less computer savvy. Seems like a prime set of targets.

That's nonsense. The first hacker to hit a huge percentage of Macs to "prove" that they're insecure would have HUGE bragging rights, regardless of the install base.

That doesn't happen because they can't. Period.

One of the jailbreakme exploits worked in OSX and would allow any program to gain root access to your computer with a click of a button on the web. There are other exploits as well that have been in existence that devs lets apple know about in order to fix. The fact that they haven't been utilized but existed only proves the market share argument. BTW I have used mac for the past 6 years so I'm obviously not bias either.

Kaspersky, the friendly Russian ghost...

I have no idea what the statement "the average mac user faced 9 malware threats" means....

It means "OMGZZZZZ look you're in danger, buy our anti-virus software that you don't need but we're trying to scare you into buying!".


As far as the argument about Mac people being less computer-savvy - I can only speak for myself but I used PCs since the MS-DOS days, built most of my own computers and was quite adept at troubleshooting hardware/software issues. I was "the computer guy" to all my friends and spent a lot more time repairing, troubleshooting and removing malware from other people's PCs than I did my own.

If I'm not as adept at troubleshooting on Macs, it's because I virtually never have to - peripherals work when you plug them in, no IRQ/driver conflicts or registry hacks to screw with, no malware/virus issues, etc. My Macs have been far less trouble than any Windows PC I ever owned.

OS X remains a tiny fraction of devices in use. Go figure.

Add in iOS, which is a variant of OS X, and it's a different story, hm?

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Mac users better thank the tiny sliver of marketshare Apple holds in the marketplace for only having to face 9 malware attacks.

Horsepucky. How do you explain iOS? It's a trimmed version of OS X.

Security-through-obscurity left the building in 2007.