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Do I need to worry about spyware?
- Thread starter erkanasu
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Oh, I disagree. But there's no program that will get ride of this type of spyware....GimmeSlack12 said:
The only thing you can do is coverup your iSight.
Yep, Apple. They're using the built-in iSight to spy on there customers.
Hm I would like to temporarily re-open this case if thats OK!
Why is it that Mac owners are so confident that they don't need to worry about security at all? I can accept that they are more secure than PC's mostly due to the enhanced file security of Unix environments and the requirement of an Administrator password to do anything. But if the user enters their Administrator password when requested (in this case when installing Limewire) and the Limewire installer chooses to install the Limewire application along with some spyware there is nothing to stop that occuring right?
In my understanding so far, Mac security seems to rely on a certain amount of user knowledge in not providing the administrator password to malware coupled with the fact that currently less malware is directed towards Mac owners.
This isn't a critism of the original reply in any way and all of my assumptions above could be wrong but as I have moved from a PC that I went to a lot of effort to keep secure I would be interested to know more about Mac security.
Why is it that Mac owners are so confident that they don't need to worry about security at all? I can accept that they are more secure than PC's mostly due to the enhanced file security of Unix environments and the requirement of an Administrator password to do anything. But if the user enters their Administrator password when requested (in this case when installing Limewire) and the Limewire installer chooses to install the Limewire application along with some spyware there is nothing to stop that occuring right?
In my understanding so far, Mac security seems to rely on a certain amount of user knowledge in not providing the administrator password to malware coupled with the fact that currently less malware is directed towards Mac owners.
This isn't a critism of the original reply in any way and all of my assumptions above could be wrong but as I have moved from a PC that I went to a lot of effort to keep secure I would be interested to know more about Mac security.
I think that the main reason people say not to worry about spyware or viruses on the Mac is that there aren't any. Forget whether or not they can possibly get them, that doesn't matter, what matters is that right now there is nothing to worry about.
I know someone is going to say that you should be prepared in case some do come out. First of all, if one does come out I doubt it will be such a massive outbreak that you wouldn't have warning to get protected. Also, I think a better reasoning is though an analogy. Say you live in a town where everyone is trustworthy and no one worries about getting there stuff stolen. In that case you would leave your doors unlocked and stuff in the yard and not worry about it. Yes you are leaving yourself open to thieves if they come, but if there aren't any why should you stay paranoid to protect against them when it is so much nicer not to? So I would say, until a criminal (virus) moves into the Mac town I wouldn't worry about it.
I know someone is going to say that you should be prepared in case some do come out. First of all, if one does come out I doubt it will be such a massive outbreak that you wouldn't have warning to get protected. Also, I think a better reasoning is though an analogy. Say you live in a town where everyone is trustworthy and no one worries about getting there stuff stolen. In that case you would leave your doors unlocked and stuff in the yard and not worry about it. Yes you are leaving yourself open to thieves if they come, but if there aren't any why should you stay paranoid to protect against them when it is so much nicer not to? So I would say, until a criminal (virus) moves into the Mac town I wouldn't worry about it.
Matt W said:
Most spyware relies on weaknesses in the Windows OS and IE to do its work. I've been running this install of OS X for 2.5 years and it runs faster today than it did when I first installed 10.3. And that without ever doing a spyware scan. Know any windows users that can say that? Without lying?
Matt W said:
No, there's nothing to stop this happening except the Mac community noticing it and boycotting that developer. We're lucky in Macland that so many developers seem to subscribe to the theory of no spyware. And, it should, be easier to get rid of than in Windows if it's a single app since there's no registry etc to screw up.
If you are nervous, you could get Little Snitch which runs in the background and notifies you if any app trys to 'dial' out to the internet.
Thats another really important issue in this discussion. Even if you remove spyware from a Windows machine, sometimes the registry is so screwed up a reinstall in necessary. Its not possible for anything that dramatic to happen to OS X EVEN IF there were spyware. (And there isn't any right now.)Applespider said:
How did I know people were gonna argue with me on this?
What are you talking about that there are pieces of spyware to worry about? There is nothing out there. We all know this, but of course 100% safe is never possible, and so you guys are banking on the 10% chance that you put in your password on some piece of software that you didn't download, and for some reason double click and open?
To the threadstarter, don't worry about Spyware. You are looking to avoid the problems that PC's have with spyware, welcome to Macintosh, we don't have that crap here.
What are you talking about that there are pieces of spyware to worry about? There is nothing out there. We all know this, but of course 100% safe is never possible, and so you guys are banking on the 10% chance that you put in your password on some piece of software that you didn't download, and for some reason double click and open?
To the threadstarter, don't worry about Spyware. You are looking to avoid the problems that PC's have with spyware, welcome to Macintosh, we don't have that crap here.
Lacreo said:Oh, I disagree. But there's no program that will get ride of this type of spyware....
The only thing you can do is coverup your iSight.
Yep, Apple. They're using the built-in iSight to spy on there customers.
so they've been watching me when I'm surfing the net naked! damn it! lol
The reason Mac users never worry about spyware is because Mac users are nice people. Every person I've seen who has discovered a "proof-of-concept" has very nicely shown an example and workarounds on their website/blog. And Apple usually comes through with patches quickly. So the situation is defused even before anyone has a chance to start anything.
Using Limewire you most certainly can download PC spyware to your desktop...my buddy did it once. I popped by one day and he had what he called "funny files" on his desktop. He was apparently trying to download a song using Limewire. That was what he got. However, it was an .exe file, which cannot be opened and used on a Mac. Unless, of course, you are running a Windows emulator and Windows. Then, you could infect your PC portion of your Mac. Either way I steer away from using apps like that altogether, only because I don't know where any given file is coming from. I'd rather go to a trusted site and download files if needed.