Apple adds malware scanning to Snow Leopard

Robert Westervelt Profile: Robert Westervelt

Ryan Narain of Threatpost.com and ZDNet’s Zero Day blog writes this week about Apple’s decision to add a malware scanner in Snow Leopard, the next version of its OS.

Apple has quietly added a new Snow Leopard feature to scan software downloads for malware, a no-brainer move that coincides with a noticeable spike in malicious files embedded in pirated copies of Mac-specific software.

Apple is not immune to hackers and never was. Although the risk of being attacked remains lower than if you were on Microsoft XP, the risk of infection has risen to a level that Apple decided it needed to do something about it. Clearly this should be taken as a positive development for Apple fans out there. Anyone who plans to surf the Web, download information and ultimately be connected to the Internet in any way should have some kind of protection in place. As Ryan points out in his blog entry, Apple has already recommended third-party antivirus software.

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