Re: A2Central News

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <apple22-644B0D.17025119092006@news-rdr-03.rdc-kc.rr.com>,
Greg Buchner  <apple22@mn.rr.com> wrote:


> There hasn't been any Mac OS X viruses (that I know of)

Do you assume that if you don't know about something, then it
does not exist?

> that will spread by themselves.

That qualification is unnecessary -- if it doesn't spread by itself,
then it's not a virus.

> They've generally needed user interaction.

Such malware is called trojans, not viruses.  Btw what do you
mean with "generally needed user interaction"?  That means there
were some malware which did not need user interaction, right?
And earlier you said they don't spread by themselves either.
Does that mean they don't spread at all?

> Something that seems common in the Windows world based on the amount
> of attacks I get in the logs on my G4.

Trojans are indeed the most common way of trying to inject malware into
other systems.  Look at all the spam many people get - a lot are just
ads, but a quite significant part contain attachments with some unknown
executable the sender wants you to run.... some of these are claimed
to offer you .... protection against malware ....

> I would guess that more are coming, but I don't think that it's a matter 
> of there being less Macs out there.  After all, with 10,000 beta's on 
> Windows VISTA out, it had a virus targeted specifically at it already.

Windows is a majority platform, and is solely for that reason a very
popular target among the virus makers.  If Mac OS-X had been as
dominating as Windows is now, then there would by now have been a lot
of viruses targeted for OS-X.  So all you OS-X users who enjoy the
freedom from virus attacks - you should keep your little secret for
yourself instead of bragging about it.  Because if you brag too much
about it, a lot of new people may become OS-X users, turning OS-X
into a majority platform -- and a very popular target for viruses.
If that happens, Windows users may enjoy the freedom from (at least
new) viruses that you enjoy now.

> I think it mostly boils down to the fact that Windows is a kludge and 
> because MS is using code in a manner that it was never intended for 
> leaves a lot of unintentional holes.  Mac OS X, starting from a unix 
> base and being a smaller OS, is naturally going to have less holes.  
> They're still there, but will be harder to find and easier to patch.

Actually, one major weakness of Windows isn't due to Windows itself
but to the way most people use it: almost all people run Windows
NT/2k/XP/2003 while all the time being logged in to an account with
administrator's rights.  This means that any malware you might happen
to execute without being aware of it can access your entire system: it
can replace any of your system files, and in the process install itself
permanently in a way which makes it hard to find and remove.  I rarely
run Windows that way, I do it only when it's absolutely necessary (e.g.
when installing or removing software packages or device drivers).  Almost
all the time I'm logged into an account with much more limited Users
rights.  Malware which executes can then, at worst, destroy my own
data files, but if it tries to manipulate system files (which almost
all malware try to do), XP itself will prevent it from doing so.

Anyone who wants to use Windows in a safer way can stop using an
accound with Administrator's rights all the time, and switch to a
User's account.  Yes, it's some more trouble, but if you take this
trouble, you'll run a much lower risk of getting your system destroyed
by being infected by malware.  This of course includes the root kit
copy "protection" present on some CD records some time ago.....

> And the only secure computer is one that's locked up and turned off.  
> Applies to Mac, Linux, Windows, whatever...

:-) ....such systems are safe, sure, but they're not particularly
useful....

Disconnecting the computer from the Internet will dramatically
increase the safety though.  So one approach could be to have two
computers: one where you keep all the stuff you consider important and
don't want to lose - that computer is disconnected.  And a second
computer where you could reformat the harddisk regularly, say twice a
year or so, and which you use to read mail, surf the Net, and do other
risky stuff.  Data between the computers can be exchanged with an USB
memory stick.  If you decide to hook both computers up to your
intranet, be sure to turn off TCP/IP on the safe computer and use only
e.g. NETBEUI to transfer data to/from that computer.  NETBEUI is an
older protocol which cannot be routed to other netweorks, therefore
nobody outside your own intranet can access any of your computers
through NETBEUI.  It's of course a much more primitive protocol, but
it works fine for shuffling files.  Of course you must pay attention
to WHICH files you shuffle to your safe computer -- if you don't pay
attention, you could transfer a trojan that way (this also applies
when you transfer files with an USB memory stick).

-- 
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