Mac Antivirus Suggestions

[Kitten Kong]

That is not logic. This is why I don't like debating something with you.

Like I said if you promise to stop posting I will find you a mac virus. I can't say for sure it will be unpatched but I will find one if you agree.

@ ComputerRepairTech. Gunslinger is perfectly in his rights to continue posting to this, and any other threads. You cannot tell him to stop posting. He is not breaking any rules.

IF you can find a mac virus, I'm pretty sure I speak for the majority of technicians, both on TN, but the entire IT community, who would LOVE to see it.

 

[gunslinger]

That is not logic. This is why I don't like debating something with you.
Like I said if you promise to stop posting I will find you a mac virus. I can't say for sure it will be unpatched but I will find one if you agree.

There is no debate. The FACT is every tech here who actually works on Macs arent seeing any viruses for them.

I can't say I'll stop posting but if you can get my Mac infected without me typing my admin password I'll admit I was mistaken and there is a legit Mac virus in the wild.

 

[Markverhyden]

There is no debate. The FACT is every tech here who actually works on Macs arent seeing any viruses for them.

I can't say I'll stop posting but if you can get my Mac infected without me typing my admin password I'll admit I was mistaken and there is a legit Mac virus in the wold.

Yep. There are plenty of techs on here in many countries who work on Macs and not a one has said anything about seeing a virus in the wild.

The only virus I have seen was one a buddy of mine sent several years ago. Was the Mac version of the Disk Repair Virus. He had happened to go to some Yahoo place which offered it as a download. Just as has been stated many times over the years it could only be installed by providing admin credentials.

It installed like a regular program and uninstalled like a regular program (trashed it).

If I have someone that is dealing with sensitive data, like HIPAA, etc, I will recommend an AV. But otherwise I don't bother. OS X is far more secure than windows in so many ways and for so many reasons.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

@ ComputerRepairTech. Gunslinger is perfectly in his rights to continue posting to this, and any other threads. You cannot tell him to stop posting. He is not breaking any rules.

IF you can find a mac virus, I'm pretty sure I speak for the majority of technicians, both on TN, but the entire IT community, who would LOVE to see it.

I didn't tell him to stop I just wanted him to agree to stop as incentive for me to take the time to try to find one for him.

There is no debate. The FACT is every tech here who actually works on Macs arent seeing any viruses for them.

I can't say I'll stop posting but if you can get my Mac infected without me typing my admin password I'll admit I was mistaken and there is a legit Mac virus in the wild.

Again, so what? it does not mean mac infections dont exist.

As for your 2nd piece thats a completely different request because to my knowledge that requires an active exploit. That would be like me saying find me a virus that can infect my windows 8 machine without accepting a UAC prompt or in the case of a standard user inserting password into UAC prompt.

 

[gunslinger]

I didn't tell him to stop I just wanted him to agree to stop as incentive for me to take the time to try to find one for him.
Again, so what? it does not mean mac infections dont exist.
As for your 2nd piece thats a completely different request because to my knowledge that requires an active exploit. That would be like me saying find me a virus that can infect my windows 8 machine without accepting a UAC prompt or in the case of a standard user inserting password into UAC prompt.

I never said the didn't exist...lol What I said was:

So, while I can't say there arent any Mac viruses, I can say apparently they are so rare as to be non-existant.

Ah, but thats where you are wrong. There seem to be plenty of "drive by" infections for Windows. No one is typing in their password to get the FBI malware are they? How about cryptolocker? Are PC users manually installing it?

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I never said the didn't exist...lol What I said was:




Ah, but thats where you are wrong. There seem to be plenty of "drive by" infections for Windows. No one is typing in their password to get the FBI malware are they? How about cryptolocker? Are PC users manually installing it?

Actually I do not believe FBI ransomware has a UAC bypass method not even as admin. I might be mistaken here but I dont think it does. As for cryptolocker I havent tested that one on myself but the primary distribution method for cryptolocker was email so yes the user manually executed it. Aside from the occassional 3rd party application like java flash etc to my knowledge there hasnt been any recent drive by method.

You act like a password prompt is going to do anything for the average user. This is why we dont usually waste our time making standard users for customers because its not going to stop them from filling out the password when they try to "install flash"

 

[gunslinger]

My point is there are still drive by infections for the PC. If it was easy to create a similar infection for the Mac people would do it, no matter how big their market share.

 

[trevm999]

You act like a password prompt is going to do anything for the average user. This is why we dont usually waste our time making standard users for customers because its not going to stop them from filling out the password when they try to "install flash"

It seems to me that a lot of mac users don't actually know their password. So a password prompt does end up stopping them in their tracks.

 

[Digital Sage]

It seems to me that a lot of mac users don't actually know their password. So a password prompt does end up stopping them in their tracks.

Really?!?

I haven't met one customer yet tat didn't know their password.

Password is needed for almost anything system related.

If you don't know your mac password, you've stolen someone else's computer.

 

[trevm999]

Really?!?

I haven't met one customer yet tat didn't know their password.

Password is needed for almost anything system related.

If you don't know your mac password, you've stolen someone else's computer.

They auto login and don't do anything system related. They end up giving me a list of about 5 possibilities. Usually one (Or a variant of one) works.

 

[Digital Sage]

They auto login and don't do anything system related. They end up giving me a list of about 5 possibilities. Usually one (Or a variant of one) works.

So they don't install anything either?

 

[gunslinger]

So they don't install anything either?

Actually Ive seen this a few times also. I think some are happy with the stock apps that come with OSX and never really see a need to install anything. Or the Mac was set up years ago, they installed all the apps they needed and then forgot the password. My wife is like that. When we set up her Macbook I installed everything she said she needed. Thats been over two years and she has never had a reason to install anything else. About once every few months I'll install flash updates ect.

We as techs sometimes forget most people don't install and play with new apps all the time. After set up most are very content to simply use their Macs to get stuff done.

 

[trevm999]

So they don't install anything either?

With all the great apps Apple includes, what more does one need?

People also get confused between the system password and their Apple ID

 

[16k_zx81]

Really?!?

I haven't met one customer yet tat didn't know their password.

Password is needed for almost anything system related.

If you don't know your mac password, you've stolen someone else's computer.

Umm... the average customer where you are must be a lot smarter than where we are. We meet a lot of customers who dont know their own password. Some of them dont even know their own email address

For us its really not that uncommon.

 

[Digital Sage]

Fair enough! Yeah, most of my customers are savvy.

 

[TechPJC]

When MD5 Hash-verified OS X Malware,
like the one found HERE,

is described as...'FUD'...,

then there is Nothing (in terms of Malware Analysis) left to write about.

 

[gunslinger]

When MD5 Hash-verified OS X Malware,
like the one found HERE,

is described as...'FUD'...,

then there is Nothing (in terms of Malware Analysis) left to write about.

Just send me a real infection dude. Thats all. If you can't do that, just let it go. Until you can find something in the wild that will get me infected you have proved nothing and again are just making yourself look bad. After days of searching for something, anything (don't lie, I know you have been...lol) this is all you got?


All you have to do is find one of these infections, zip it up and post it. The mods have already told you this is what they want to see as well. They would not have a problem with it. So far all you have done is post PDFs, spread sheets with stats and MD5s. Just post an actual virus that will infect my Mac without me having to manually install it...lol You seem to be having a real hard time with this. If they are out there why are you having such a hard time?


I posted a similar challenge with Windows about a month ago and within a few minutes someone posted 100 infected sites with over 18,000 infections. With you all I'm asking is ONE real Mac virus. Not malware, not a browser hijack, but a true virus.

Virus: a segment of self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network.

It needs to be able to install itself on my Mac without me doing it manually and do real damage to my OS or network.


This is the 6th time I have made this challenge to you.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Just post an actual virus that will infect my Mac without me having to manually install it...lol You seem to be having a real hard time with this. If they are out there why are you having such a hard time?

Your request changed over time though. Its one thing to ask someone to find a mac virus which I can probably call in a favor and do that. Its another thing completely to ask for one that bypasses root password. Its happened before in the past but I don't think theres been any active exploit like that in what 2 years and that one was using java.

Adding the root password requirement is silly the discussion is mac antiviruses for a user. Many users have no problem entering a password to install an app they think is legit. It would be like me saying to you find me a virus thats going to infect windows 8 when im logged in as a standard user without entering admin password. If you can't find me one then by the previous "logic" you've used then windows 8 is safe.

(i'd be surprised if there wasnt some existing method that works to bypass UAC as a standard user but I don't think you'd put forth the effort into finding one)

 

[gunslinger]

Its one thing to ask someone to find a mac virus which I can probably call in a favor and do that

You have to call in a favor to get one? lol Love it.


Here is the thing. I have in other threads freely admitted that I thought Windows 7 and by default Win8 are very secure these days even when run naked. I'm not arguing that. What I'm saying is as far as I know there are no real Mac viruses in the wild. This by default makes you less likely to be infected by something truly destructive on a Mac. I have yet to have someone prove me wrong. Maybe you and TechPJC should team up on that? You seem to be doing that on here anyway.


Instead what I'm getting recently are "anonymous" emails on my business site and PMs from members with newly created accounts and low post counts asking odd questions on here. Cute attempt and hacking. While I'm kinda flattered someone is investing that much time in me they should really stop. Its not going to work and is simply annoying. "can't prove gunslinger wrong so I'm going to attack him outside technibble" Very mature. Says something, not sure what.


I'm pretty sure I never once said there was not some malware out there for the Mac. We all know there is. Its very, very rare but does exist. I'm talking about a true virus. You said you can call in a favor? Please make your call. If it borks my OS without me having to manually install the damn thing I'll admit I was wrong and there is at least one Mac virus in the wild.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

You have to call in a favor to get one? lol Love it.


Here is the thing. I have in other threads freely admitted that I thought Windows 7 and by default Win8 are very secure these days even when run naked. I'm not arguing that. What I'm saying is as far as I know there are no real Mac viruses in the wild. This by default makes you less likely to be infected by something truly destructive on a Mac. I have yet to have someone prove me wrong. Maybe you and TechPJC should team up on that? You seem to be doing that on here anyway.


Instead what I'm getting recently are "anonymous" emails on my business site and PMs from members with newly created accounts and low post counts asking odd questions on here. Cute attempt and hacking. While I'm kinda flattered someone is investing that much time in me they should really stop. Its not going to work and is simply annoying. "can't prove gunslinger wrong so I'm going to attack him outside technibble" Very mature. Says something, not sure what.


I'm pretty sure I never once said there was not some malware out there for the Mac. We all know there is. Its very, very rare but does exist. I'm talking about a true virus. You said you can call in a favor? Please make your call. If it borks my OS without me having to manually install the damn thing I'll admit I was wrong and there is at least one Mac virus in the wild.

You are doing it again, just because you have to enter your password does not mean its not a virus. What you are talking about is an exploit.

Edit: I don't think anyone said macs arent less likely to be infected. Thats obviously true.