Virus count?

My current count is 30, if you don't count different variants of the same malware separately and if you don't count malware that affected Mac OS 9 and earlier (which cannot in any way affect any version of Mac OS X). I may escalate it to 31, though... haven't decided about the vaguely-described Jacksbot that Intego announced discovery of last week. Sounds like it hasn't actually been seen in the wild yet, so I've been holding off until more details are published.

To see my list, see the malware catalog in my Mac Malware Guide.

Edit: BTW, note that none are viruses, unless you count MS Office macro "viruses", which I don't.

I think Mr. Reed spends most of not all his waking hours in search of Mac malware 🙂

David Bokuchava wrote:

.. how many viruses, malwares ... etc.

An accurate answer requires a specific question. The terms viruses and malware are not interchangeable.

Malware describes software written with deliberate malicious intent; to do harm in the form of in data collection or corruption.

A virus is computer code capable of propagating itself from one computer to another without the user's knowledge or consent. The key distinction to understand is that a virus is self-replicating and spreads itself.

Now that you understand the distinction, as Thomas A Reed wrote, the answer to "Virus count" is zero. No viruses are known to affect Mac OS X. None.

It is worth noting that for about half of the 30 the actual risk of damage is considered "very low". The reason is that most of those are found on illegal file-sharing sites offering pirated software. You can reduce this "very low" risk to zero yourself, by not downloading torrents or allowing unknown apps access to your computer by thoughtlessly supplying your user name and password just because a popup unexpectedly requested them.

The one possible exception to this was the notorious "Flashback" trojan that affected Macs through a clever Java exploit. Users that did not enable Java could not be affected, and Apple slammed the door on that threat with a Software Update anyway, so unless you have been living under a proverbial rock for the past several months it is not a threat.

The remainder are not considered a threat at all.

There is a reason so few threats exist. Mac OS X was designed from the ground up to be secure from viruses and malware, but recent improvements have made it even more so.

You may find some of these Apple articles interesting:

OS X: About Gatekeeper

Safari 6 (OS X Mountain Lion): Identify secure websites and avoid frauds

About file quarantine in OS X

It is worth noting that for about half of the 30 the actual risk of damage is considered "very low". The reason is that most of those are found on illegal file-sharing sites offering pirated software.

Actually, less than half have any threat level at all. Most are not currently of any threat whatsoever, and for some of the ones I would consider to be still a threat, it's probably quite a stretch for most users to ever see them.

Also, note that very few of them have actually been transmitted by illegal file sharing sites. Some, yes, but many (especially in recent years) have been distributed through perfectly legit sites that have somehow been hacked using techniques like cross-site scripting attacks. A good example is MacDefender, which appeared and disappeared in 2011 and was commonly found on Google Images. The hackers set up sites that tricked Google Images into linking certain images to a URL containing a JavaScript that would load a page claiming the user had a virus, and offering the "purchase" of software to cure the infection. No unscrupulous sites would seem to be involved, as far as the average user is concerned.

Thomas A Reed wrote:

I may escalate it to 31, though... haven't decided about the vaguely-described Jacksbot that Intego announced discovery of last week. Sounds like it hasn't actually been seen in the wild yet, so I've been holding off until more details are published.

Intego updated their article to say it was Java remote access technology (RAT) created by the hacking and programming group Redpois0n, so I think you can safely stick with 30 for the time being.

David Bokuchava wrote:

Thanks for replays, Is there any database or list where can I see all OS X viruses?

I take it you didn't look at Thomas' Macintosh Malware Catalog?

Apple isn't doing the homework: One of the best features of OSX has always been that no antivirus was needed to be secure, and Apple marketed OSX with such message. Later, they changed the wording, and they even recommended to install antivirus. That's a huge marketing mistake, IMHO. If they can challenge Google developing a new maps app from scratch, it's much easier to certify that OSX doesn't need antivirus, specially now with new sandboxing technologies.

If Apple wants to keep OSX successful, the "don't install an antivirus" message must come back to their marketing.

FWIW, I never installed an antivirus on any of my OSX machines, from Tiger to Mountain Lion, and never had any security issue, while enjoying the 100% of my computer performance, free from the clutter and all renew/update annoyances of antivirus software, which itself scores as "malware" from my standards.

If Apple wants to keep OSX successful, the "don't install an antivirus" message must come back to their marketing.

Nonsense! After Flashback, that statement would be insanely stupid for Apple to make! Not even experts can agree about the necessity of installing anti-virus software on a Mac. As for the general public, if they see news about 600,000 Macs infected followed by Apple saying not to install anti-virus software, they will think the folks at Apple are idiots or are smoking something. The facts don't matter.

cesarpixel wrote:

it's much easier to certify that OSX doesn't need antivirus, specially now with new sandboxing technologies.

It is even easier to just ignore the issue.

If Apple wants to keep OSX successful, the "don't install an antivirus" message must come back to their marketing.

Apple's doing alright with OS X.

FWIW, I never installed an antivirus on any of my OSX machines, from Tiger to Mountain Lion, and never had any security issue, while enjoying the 100% of my computer performance, free from the clutter and all renew/update annoyances of antivirus software, which itself scores as "malware" from my standards.

I've never even installed antivirus on my Windows VMs on my Mac. Since I check e-mail and surf the web on the Mac, and Windows is behind a NAT layer, most avenues for infection are closed.

The biggest problem with antivirus is they are focused exclusively on Windows malware. That is not necessarily a bad thing since there are literally too many Windows viruses to count. The number actually goes up faster than can be counted. But how can we expect these antivirus companies to be up-to-date against malware threats when some major, respected vendors don't even support Mountain Lion.

Apple's statement was...

"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."

AFAIK that is still so.

David Bokuchava wrote:

Thanks for replays, Is there any database or list where can I see all OS X viruses?

John Galt wrote:

Now that you understand the distinction, as Thomas A Reed wrote, the answer to "Virus count" is zero. No viruses are known to affect Mac OS X. None.