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Old January 17th, 2007
lucidardor lucidardor is offline
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Join Date: January 17th, 2007
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Default virus on osx

Actually there are at least two known viruses known to attack OSX. (the first found on Feb. 16 2006)

http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/...16005401.shtml

Apple Computer claims that there are 4 known viruses.

http://www.securemac.com/

– Other sources claim over 63 known viruses for OSX.


Here you'll find a small list of known viruses: http://www.viruslist.com/en/find?sea...ds=osx&x=0&y=0


"As of 2006, there are relatively few security exploits [4] targeting Mac OS X (a Unix-based operating system); the known vulnerabilities fall under the classifications of worms and Trojans. The number of viruses for the older Apple operating systems, known as Mac OS Classic, varies greatly from source to source, with Apple stating that there are only four known viruses, and independent sources stating there are as many as 63 viruses. It is safe to say that Macs are less likely to be exploited due to their secure Unix base, and because a Mac-specific virus could only infect a small proportion of computers (making the effort less desirable). Virus vulnerability between Macs and Windows was/is a chief catalyst of the platform wars between Apple Computer and Microsoft." — Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus

I use ClamXav. It's licensed under the GNU Public License and can be downloaded at http://www.clamxav.com/

Also go into Safari's preferences and make sure you have the option to "open safe files" unchecked. And make sure that you check the "get info" on every file you download before you launch and make sure that the description matches the file extension. If "get info" tells you it's a Unix Executable File but the extension says something else (like .jpg or .mp3) toss it in the trash and do a "secure empty trash." And by the way, use your firewall. By default in osx (who knows why) the firewall is disabled. I would expect more viruses to attack OSX in the future. I'm sure this is only the beginning. Hope all this helps ;-)

Last edited by lucidardor; January 17th, 2007 at 11:01 PM.
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