That sure took long enough. After reports surfaced last week about Apple's denial, the company has come clean in a support document. Mac Defender is real malware targeting Mac OS X, and Apple will issue an update to plug the hole. Yes, but will it be little more than a finger in the dike?
The answer to that question has already generated fierce debate among Mac defenders -- not the malware, but Apple fans -- and PC stalwarts about whether Mac Defender is start of a troubling trend: Increased number of attacks against Mac OS X. The Mac defenders brush off Mac Defender, arguing there is no OS security problem but one of social engineering. It's a bogus argument, considering social engineering also is the main mechanism by which malware infects PCs. According to research released last week by Microsoft, 1 in 14 programs that are downloaded are later determined to be malware, and in most cases, the malicious software was installed by good old-fashioned social engineering.
The answer to that question has already generated fierce debate among Mac defenders -- not the malware, but Apple fans -- and PC stalwarts about whether Mac Defender is start of a troubling trend: Increased number of attacks against Mac OS X. The Mac defenders brush off Mac Defender, arguing there is no OS security problem but one of social engineering. It's a bogus argument, considering social engineering also is the main mechanism by which malware infects PCs. According to research released last week by Microsoft, 1 in 14 programs that are downloaded are later determined to be malware, and in most cases, the malicious software was installed by good old-fashioned social engineering.