Mac Security: What You Can Ignore


Viruses and worms

Let's be completely clear: there are absolutely no technical barriers preventing worms or viruses from infecting the Mac platform. A cursory review of Apple's own security updates will reveal a long list of vulnerabilities that a knowledgeable attacker could easily exploit in a Mac virus or worm. Some of these flaws have been public for weeks or months before Apple released fixes for them.


The extremely low incidence of Mac-specific malware is a source of continual debate in the security community. It might be due to Apple's still relatively low market share. It might be because malware authors have years of experience exploiting PCs. I think it's probably a combination of factors.

Whatever the reason, it's frustrating for Mac security vendors, who see the potential for widespread attacks, but never the execution. And until those attacks appear, there's little reason for the average Apple user to invest in antivirus software.





In the past year, we saw one small botnet built from Macs, which had been compromised by a trojan hidden in illegally downloaded software. But since your Mac first needs to be infected some form of malware before it can be made part of a botnet, the chances that it'll end up in a herd are still extremely low.

Infected hardware


But in recent years, there's been a resurgence of hardware-based attacks. Some attackers have managed to infiltrate supply chains, shipping digital picture frames, storage devices, and--yes--even iPods that are pre-infected with viruses. We aren't talking obscure items ordered from a dark corner of eBay, but devices available at big box retailers like Best Buy. One of the more nefarious propagation mechanisms of the (over-hyped) Conficker virus was infected USB drives.

Conficker aside, this is still mostly a Windows-only problem. That's because of Windows' autorun feature, which automatically launches any software on an appropriately-configured storage device. When you connect one of these devices to a Windows PC, the viruses automatically run. (Microsoft has since issued a series of updates to disable this feature).


Bluetooth attacks

The Bluetooth wireless technology has known security vulnerabilities. Macs and iPhones have Bluetooth. But your odds of being victimized by those vulnerabilities are still very low. Even if you accidentally leave Bluetooth file-sharing enabled, it's unlikely you will ever be within wireless range of an attacker, never mind one with the tools and knowledge to take advantage of the opportunity.

There are exceptions, of course. I spend quite a bit of time at hacker and security conferences; I'd be a fool to enable Bluetooth there. But for the average user, Bluetooth vulnerabilities just aren't exploited on a wide-enough scale to be concerned.

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