Ok folks, I was sitting here on my new MacBook Pro, admiring the glossy screen, the glowing keyboard, the nifty little virus protection icon quickly scanning away, the - wait! If you are a regular Mac user, your mind just came to a screeching halt huh?
Yep, I said the dirty work. Virus protection on my Apple computer!
Iphone Application
Well, hey, I am like anyone else. I wanted to stay safe while on the Internet. Just in case you are under a rock and haven't noticed, Apple is quickly gaining in popularity. The iPod generation is growing up and taking the Apple brand with it. For all of us seasoned vets of the legendary Macintosh, 20 years for me, I have been well accustomed to not worrying about all the junk PC users have went bald over the last decade.
Viruses, Spyware, Adware, Bots, Rootkits, Trojans, whew, and those are just the popular ones. Yep, our beloved Apple is even becoming susceptible to - Worms! I mean, it was only a matter of time. The malware is targeted towards the areas with the most market share. Now granted that Apple did a good thing in building OSX, their famous operating system for the hardware, on a UNIX base. UNIX being the trusty old language that has stretched nearly half a century gives some stability to keep our Apple's shiny, but nothing is fool proof.
Information is more abundant than ever, and it seems people are more clever than ever to keep coming out with new ways to exploit or damage our computers. Well, our time has arrived to concentrate on protecting our Macs a whee bit more than just putting a password on our user accounts. From this point forward, Mac security Development will be an ongoing trend seeing rapid growth. We have already come 2 years from when a Mac was the first to be hacked at the CanSecWest security conference over the Linux and Vista systems.
Think about that a minute, that was 2 years ago. What type of advancements have been made in exploits by now? Well, fast forward to this year's event at the Pwn2Own hack contest - Apple's Safari web browser on Snow Leopard, and the iPhone were both hacked on the first day of the event.
Getting a little shaky yet? I know it did me.
So, how do we be proactive here? Well, start with making sure you keep your Software Update feature in OSX on the lookout for the latest security patches, and Application upgrades. Also, consider turning your Firewall on in the System Preferences of your Mac. Most of you may be thinking, I didn't even know Mac had a firewall! Yep, use it. Finally, pickup some Antivirus for it. Antivirus for Mac is changing near daily, but there are decent paid for and free solutions. Do some online searching for a recommend product.
Moral of this story? Take a little more time to protect your Mac and it will in turn keep you a little more safer while out there in the crazy world of the Internet - and keep those worms at bay!
I Have Worms in My Apple!