Anti Virus software on Mac? YES!
Posted by: secureitfoundation on: September 19, 2009
Smug security, or security by obscurity to give its proper security title, is a terrible thing. It lulls people into thinking they are secure because no one is currently attacking them. The reason no one is attacking them is that there is no money / fame / job in it as the item being secured is too obscure. It is cheap as no real security measures are needed, and will work until someone sees money / fame / job in it. Problem comes that the longer the time smugness is used as a security shield, the skills of the attackers improves while no real security work is going on to help stop problems in the future. Microsoft learnt this quickly and has made great improvements on security over the years at a considerable cost. Mac security has been security by obscurity… but now Macs are popular and a target.
So one of the most popular questions we get asked, is should I use Anti Virus software on a Mac? The answer is yes… but not to protect the computer from bad guys. It is protect the Mac from yourself. To get a virus on a Mac, you need to download software, run it and enter the administrative password (strangely similar to a Windows computer correctly hardened!). To get the software to run, you agreed for it to anything to your computer, hence you need Anti Virus software to protect your Mac from you! You cannot tell if software is good or bad, so let the professionals do it for you and run AV, for all our sakes.
SB
2 Responses to "Anti Virus software on Mac? YES!"
2 | RobD
October 7, 2009 at 12:47 AM
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking your feeds too now, Thanks.
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- Brad Pizza: Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile So
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October 1, 2009 at 4:20 AM
Hey, I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say GREAT blog!…..I”ll be checking in on a regularly now….Keep up the good work!