HT202458: About Flashback malware

Learn about About Flashback malware
youssefbsaadeh

Q: Why are mac less vulnerable for virus than window

Why are mac less vulnerable for virus than window

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Mar 27, 2016 1:57 PM

Close

Q: Why are mac less vulnerable for virus than window

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Mar 27, 2016 4:31 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh
    Level 7 (22,887 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 27, 2016 4:31 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh

    Because Windows has such a huge part of the market share, it is not so beneficial to target  the Macs.

  • by rccharles,

    rccharles rccharles Mar 27, 2016 5:03 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh
    Level 6 (8,464 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Mar 27, 2016 5:03 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh

    Microsoft

    -- is market share driven not technology driven.

    -- made it easy to program

    -- focused on be compatible to the past

    -- let PC field customer calls of troubles not microsoft.

     

    Mac based

    -- over forty years of experience in a harsh environment ... colleges.

    -- continues to expand security

    -- took responsibility for weeding out viruses not pass it off to third parties.

     

    Fact:

    -- Apache has larger market share while IIS has more bugs.

     

    R

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Mar 27, 2016 5:06 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh
    Level 9 (55,002 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 27, 2016 5:06 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh

    OS X is based on BSD UNIX. UNIX was developed from the very beginning as a multi-tasking, multi-threaded operating system. Security and sandboxing were critical components from the very beginning.

     

    Windows, yes, even Windows 10, still has its roots in DOS. Nuff said.

  • by HyperNetFella,

    HyperNetFella HyperNetFella Mar 27, 2016 5:14 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh
    Level 1 (74 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 27, 2016 5:14 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh

    Apple is gaining market share in the Enterprise, and will continue to funnel resources to grow that portion of its business.  While its clear that MACs aren't, for the most part, the every day users go to environment for desktop operating and users in the Corporations.

     

    That said, as *NIX based systems grow in popularity so with the target on its back.  And while *NIX is a more secure environment out of the box, it will increasingly become prone to attack and more bright and inquiring minds will be looking for ways to exploit vulnerabilities that don't exist, yet. 

     

    Another fact, is that sandboxing is a great security feature, but session cookies on iOS devices that lock safari and relay phishing attacks by notification to unsuspecting users is becoming prevalent... clever minions out there.

     

    Simply my consolidated opinion.

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Mar 27, 2016 5:19 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh
    Level 6 (19,272 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 27, 2016 5:19 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh

    In the days before the internet became a big thing, Microsoft hired lots of young software developers, letting them go "Oooooh, Shiny" and implement all kinds of cool features, not paying attention to how they could be turned to evil.  After millions and millions of lines of code, the internet happened, and all those cool features started to be turned against Microsoft.  It takes a very long time find all the flaws in that much software, then fix them in such as way that they did not break things for their customers, that got dependent on those cool features.

     

    Apple, having much smaller market share had more time to observe Microsoft's troubles.  And then in the early 2000's Apple switched from Mac OS Classic to Mac OS X, using a Unix base.  Unix, as has been mentioned by and , was much more security aware.  So a better starting base, and Microsoft as an example of what not to do, Apple created OS X from a better starting point.

     

    And again at the start of OS X, it had a much smaller market share, so it had more time to get things stabilized.

     

    Now that OS X is gaining market share, and visibility via iPhone/iPad sales, it is starting to be targeted, but Apple is trying to address things as soon as they come up.

  • by ckuan,

    ckuan ckuan Mar 27, 2016 5:20 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 7 (33,247 points)
    Mar 27, 2016 5:20 PM in response to KiltedTim

    MS DOS was based on QDOS.

  • by rccharles,

    rccharles rccharles Mar 28, 2016 11:20 AM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 6 (8,464 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Mar 28, 2016 11:20 AM in response to leroydouglas

    leroydouglas wrote:

     

    Because Windows has such a huge part of the market share, it is not so beneficial to target  the Macs.

    I do not think you can use that excuse anymore. Apple os is used on the apple tv, ipad, iphone, ipod, and the mac. Apple gives the os different names and different chrome, but the underlying os is the same. Apple os is widely used and perhaps usage is nearing the microsoft os.

     

    R

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Mar 28, 2016 1:10 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh
    Level 5 (7,013 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2016 1:10 PM in response to youssefbsaadeh

    some possible factors include for OS X:

     

    • depending on what you read Mac makes up 5 to 12 % of the entire computer market, far fewer systems to test out new virus, far less impact in the event something could be developed and released in the wild (currently that has not happened AFAIK)

     

    • macs are expensive, making deployment in 3rd world countries difficult

     

    • most virus and exploits don't come from computer experts, most of the most widespread computer attacks were distributed by amateurs who downloaded available code from the web and had no idea of what they were messing with.

     

    • more open development for Windows, more tools to make mayhem in Windows than Mac OS.
    • Apple locks down most if not all of their HW and SW, far fewer titles, far less to support and support can be concentrated in the event the Apple product is discovered to have an exploit.
    possible factors for iOS:
    • Apple is strict on development and getting 3rd parties eligible for Apple Store distribution where the SW may be subject to review. If you want to develop for Apple the approval process is far more strict than anyone else.
    and from what I've read Android has around 4 times the worldwide deployment that iOS has, iOS still trails Windows in tablets and phones.
    iOS has a concentration of deployment in the more industrialized countries , outside of those it appears with far less frequency, but I can't find anything to say iOS is a large portion of portable devices, it does not appear to be accurate from what I'm reading.

    I can't say one is any less vulnerable than another, it appears to be the availability of the OS or iOS, so Apple is not not immune, there's just less of it out there and it's more tightly controlled, but you can always use existing tech to facilitate an attack without changing a line of code.

    http://www.thesafemac.com/

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Mar 28, 2016 1:13 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT
    Level 5 (7,013 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2016 1:13 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

    clarification. iOS vs Android for tablets get closer than phones

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems