Is the Mac OS now subject to viruses

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Level 1

5 points

Is the Mac OS now subject to viruses

When I worked at Symantec, in the virus dept, I learned that the PC had a thousands of viruses. The Mac had just a handful. That was pre osX. Now we have osx, which is Unix based. This makes writing a virus for the Mac even more difficult. While viruses for the PC just keep multiplying.

But, now we have the ability to have a virtual PC right on our Mac. I am running Fusion. When I installed in, I told it to integrate the PC and Mac so they could share files. (I am wondering now if this was a mistake. The other option was to keep them more sepeate)

Since the PC and Mac do share files so closely, is the Mac no susectable to PC viruses, spyware etc...?

What should I be running in the way or protection?

Virus software of the PC side? The mac side? How about Sypware protection for the Mac and PC?

Phillip

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 29, 2012 7:24 AM

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Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jan 29, 2012 7:31 AM in response to needsmet

Rather than post a lengthy point-by-point answer, I'll just refer you to my Mac Malware Guide.

http://www.reedcorner.net/guides/macvirus

It should answer all those questions, though some of them perhaps not directly. If you have unanswered questions after reading that, I'd be glad to discuss them with you here.

(Note that my pages contain links to other pages that promote my services, and this should not be taken as an endorsement of my services by Apple.)

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Jan 29, 2012 7:39 AM in response to needsmet

There are no known viruses that attack macs. AFA other malware Mac OS X versions 10.6.7 and later have built-in detection of known Mac malware in downloaded files. The recognition database is automatically updated once a day; however, you shouldn't rely on it, because the attackers are always at least a day ahead of the defenders. In most cases, there’s no benefit from any other automated protection against malware.

No, there's no chance of getting a virus from a PC, because Mac cannot open .exe files.

The best defense against malware is common sense.

and by being a frustrating target. Use your built-in firewall, download only from "trusted" sites, install all security updates and being careful about what you give administrative power to.

Don't use Limewire or any other P2P service to download your software, get it from reputable sources. In addition, always keep a clone of your entire system on a separate disk. And put your sensitive passwords, bank accounts, credit card numbers in a "secure note "in a new keychain or in an encrypted folder. Also, you should be using WPA2 in Network > Airport.

For the Windows side, do what you would do in Windows. I know nothing about that OS.

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