News Analysis: The days of Mac OS X being seemingly immune from viruses and other malware are gone forever as Apple has finally acknowledged the existence of fake Macintosh antivirus scams.
Over
the years, Mac users have been conditioned to believe that their computers were
immune from security threats. The folks who went to the Apple Store to get a
Mac were told by friends, family and even Apple that they were much safer using
a Mac than they would be with a Windows-based computer. And so, over the years,
a general sense of complacency has emerged.
But
that house of cards came crumbling down as of late
when Mac Defender starting making its rounds in the Mac ecosystem. Apple
took too long to respond to the issue, and as expected, many of its supporters
called it a red herring. But as the number of people who complained about these
fake antivirus scams started to pile up, it quickly became clear that it was
not a joke. Mac Defender, along with other malicious variants related to it,
has become a major problem for Apple users.
The
time has come for those folks and all others to acknowledge the simple fact
that many security experts have been saying for far too long: Macs are not
immune from security threat and users have to protect themselves.
Read
on to find out why:
1. Perception is everything
Over
the years, Mac users have been under the erroneous belief that they were safe
from any malicious software that was affecting Windows PCs. Granted, infecting
a Mac with malware may be somewhat more difficult, but it can be done,
as Mac Defender has proved. Now, all those malicious hackers who might have
perceived Mac OS X to not be worth their time could be changing their minds.
Perception is everything. Among scammers the perception is shifting toward
believing attacking Mac OS X is a worthwhile exploit.
2. The criminals see a money-making
opportunity
Going
forward, a growing number of cyber-criminals will attack Mac OS X because they
see it as a fine money-making opportunity. Make no mistake, the reason
cyber-criminals attack machines is to turn a profit for their efforts.
Considering Macs are exploitable, hardly ever secured by an anti-malware
program and run by people who are cynical when it comes to security, they seem
like a better money-making opportunity than ever.
3. Users became lazy
Unfortunately,
Mac users are simply lazier than Windows users when it comes to security
because they are complacent. They believe they're safe, and they don't spend
enough time thinking about protecting themselves when they use a Mac. A very
small number of Mac owners are running security software as there is still a
large contingent of folks who believe there's nothing to worry about. As long
as those people continue on that path, cyber-criminals will keep attacking Mac
OS X.
4. The threats are everywhere now
More
than ever,
people around the globe are facing threats from all sides. Not only do they
need to worry about malicious files in email attachments, but they need to
think about issues cropping up on the Web, in social networks and elsewhere.
Simply put, the number of places malicious files can be hiding nowadays is
greater than ever. There isn't a single Mac user who's immune to that.
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