Apple

Own a Mac? Get Anti-virus, says Apple

The Mac vs. PC ads are always funny, but this one’s even more of a hoot, especially since Apple quietly snuck out an advisory on November 21 that Mac users should use multiple antivirus programs:

“Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.”

Needless to say, this is getting a lot of play in the media.

From The Register:

“Long something of a phantom menace, strains of malware capable of infecting Mac machines have gradually been increasing in prevalence over recent months. In addition, VXers are making more use of web-based attack and applications specific vulnerabilities to infect PCs whatever their underlying operating system might be.”

From the Washington Post:

“This is news to me. Just under three months ago, I asked an employee at our local Apple store whether I needed anti-virus for my MacBook, and was told not to bother, that it was not necessary. I wonder if this means Apple will stop running television ads saying Mac users don’t have to worry about malicious software?”

It had to happen sooner or later. The Mac user base may be much smaller than the PC’s, but it’s still significant and enjoyed a 38 percent market share growth, going from 6.4 percent of the market in 2007 to 8.5 percent during the second quarter of 2008. Even more significant is the little known fact that Apple’s market share of the so-called “premium” computer market — machines that cost more than $1,000– hit a whopping 66% in the first quarter of 2008. Maybe, just maybe, people who buy “premium” stuff have more money which can mean a bigger payday for the Internet criminals.

Just my opinion, but if you could steal a Jaguar with no more effort than it takes to steal a Chevy, which would you take?

Safari for Windows Flaw Quick Fix

Microsoft has issued Security Advisory 953818 advising Safari users to “restrict use of Safari as a web browser until an appropriate update is available from Microsoft and/or Apple.” According to Microsoft:

“A combination of the default download location in Safari and how the Windows desktop handles executables creates a blended threat in which files may be downloaded to a user’s machine without prompting, allowing them to be executed. An attacker could trick users into visiting a specially crafted Web site that could download content to a user’s machine and execute the content locally using the same permissions as the logged-on user. “

Oddly enough, there’s a quick fix for the problem. In the advisory, Microsoft clearly states: “Mitigating Factors: Customers who have changed the default location where Safari downloads content to the local drive are not affected by this blended threat.” Just go to Edit > Preferences > General > Save downloaded files to [your chosen new location].

That was easy.