Where Does Apple Really Stand with Anti-Virus?
CNET reports Apple has pulled a knowledge base article advocating Mac users run anti-virus software. It's a mistake to think even devices running established, well designed operating systems don't need malware protection.
Elinor Mills nails it:
There are no known viruses in the wild that exploit a vulnerability in the Mac OS, and Windows continues to be the overwhelming preference for malware writers to target their programs. But malware isn't just taking advantage of operating system weaknesses anymore. In fact, the majority of such threats now come from code that targets weaknesses in browsers and other applications that aren't platform specific.
Operating systems are no longer the common denominator that attackers go after. Yesterday I used Windows, Linux and Mac OS machines, and I used Firefox on all of them. Many of us spend almost as much time in browser based applications as desktop apps. Rather than get over confident about our preferred operating systems we should consider the spread of drive-by downloads, phishing scams and social engineering attacks. Any help to block those is welcome regardless of the OS we run.
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