The attacks on Macs are now significant enough for Apple users to justify investing in an antivirus product, security company Panda said at the launch of a new product offering that protection.
A marketing action to reap from Apple's economy or a justified precaution? Panda points to the numbers. There are now 5,000 malware families affecting Macs and the company says it's seeing 500 new samples per month specific to Macs.
In 2009, 34 vulnerabilities were detected in Apple's OS X, which rose to 175 so far in 2010, with a total in 20 years of 170,000 macro viruses affecting the platform.
To be clear, such security threats are related only to Apple's desktops and laptops and not to iPads or iPhones, which are vulnerable only if they have been jailbroken or if, in some way, a fake application manages to sneak into the approval process.
That security companies are looking at Apple's wealthy users is nothing new and every major antivirus company now has a Mac product, driven in part by the relatively larger user base in the US.
However, questions remain about the scale of the threat.
In relation to Windows, the comparison is that it does not compete. The new Windows threats outnumber Apple's by between 100 to 1 and 500 to 1 depending on who you ask, and ignoring the much greater sophistication they show.
Many of the software vulnerabilities Panda notes were cross-platform, non-Mac-specific browser failures. And regarding the 170,000 macro viruses, although they threaten in a way, such malware is so obsolete on PCs that the providers do not even bother to count them.
The argument is based on the number of new malware threats you see now and their complexity. By far, the evidence suggests that while complicated Trojans now appear, Mac malware is still straightforward.
"We have always held the theory that when Apple reaches a larger market share, close to 15 percent worldwide (which given the rapid growth will be reached soon), hackers will begin to direct their attacks against this platform," said Panda Vice President Ivan Fermon.
"We could even say that today, the Windows operating system is more secure than that of the Mac, simply because Microsoft has been working pro-actively on security for several years," he added.
There are few reliable figures regarding Apple's market share and those that do exist tend to be related only to the US and consumer market. With desktops declining in importance, Apple's chances of getting 15 percent of sales seem extremely remote. This scale matters because it is what drives the interest of criminals.
Given the small but plausible nature of the threat, there is an argument that Apple itself should offer a security program as part of its offering, rather than leaving it to third parties. It's what Microsoft ended up doing, updating XP with a firewall and more recently delivering a free antivirus program, Security Essentials.
Ironically, the reason Microsoft avoided doing that in the first place was concern about antitrust investigations which could have been seen as an anti-competitive move. This spirit of free markets unfortunately misunderstood the nature of the threat and the world is still today cleaning up the mess made.
For logging, Panda antivirus for Mac offers real-time protection, file scanning, and the ability to check iPhones and iPads to make sure they're not harboring malware even if that malware can't damage devices.
Panda also notes that Mac antivirus products stop the passage of Windows malware that can pass (as attachments) to PC users although it seems unlikely that people will want to buy protection for other users who probably already have their own protection.
Mac users interested in Panda Security for Mac can purchase a one-year license for the software for £42 (approximately $66). This is higher than what a Windows user would pay for equivalent protection but this is the case with all Mac software. Development costs are higher for a smaller number of users.
Translation: Raul Batista - Segu-Info
Author: John E. Dunn
Source: Networkworld
