Quantcast
You are not logged in, click here to log in.
10 Replies Last post: Aug 25, 2005 7:56 PM by macnuke  
Click to view MW Forums's profile New Member 12,220 posts since
Aug 2, 2004
Reply

Aug 24, 2005 5:50 AM

McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex

McAfee has added support for Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" to its Virex virus detection and eradication software. more
Reply
Click to view ibeetle's profile Member 398 posts since
Apr 29, 2004
1. Aug 24, 2005 6:06 AM in response to: MW Forums
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
Why does this sound like McAfee is getting ready to make a statement like:

Sense there are not a lot of viruses for consumer Macs we are no longer supporting consumer level desktops.
Click to view fribhey's profile Member 684 posts since
May 21, 2004
2. Aug 24, 2005 6:14 AM in response to: MW Forums
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
In reply to:<hr />
We recognize that there are not a tremendous number of Mac viruses right now, but the threat does exist and they have popped up from time to time,

<hr />



'not a tremendous number of mac viruses right now' - that's funny because there are NO number of mac viruses right now
Click to view Ockham's profile New Member 34 posts since
Aug 16, 2004
3. Aug 24, 2005 6:20 AM in response to: ibeetle
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
I believe they pretty much did that some time ago. If I am remembering correctly, there were some extended periods where they only offered a site-license.
Click to view iron_chef's profile Member 313 posts since
Aug 28, 2004
4. Aug 24, 2005 6:22 AM in response to: fribhey
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
And the vast majority of those "viruses" are pre OS9 ones.

Click to view j_drake's profile Member 316 posts since
Aug 27, 2004
5. Aug 24, 2005 9:17 AM in response to: fribhey
Are we being too smug...
While I also tend to wallow in the "non-viral" environment our Macs afford our household, as OS X becomes
more mainstream, and surely we all know it will, wont that attract more notice, and will that notice/attention not bring more cr@p down on our smug little fiefdoms?
I realize that the *nix base of OSX makes it very difficult to infiltrate, but does it make it impossible (or nearly so)?
I've never subscribed to the "too small to bother with" scenario, it is more valuable (notoriety wise) to be the one that breaks into Fort Knox, rather than the one that steals the lunch money from the kid on the bus.

nuff said.
Click to view warlock7's profile Member 710 posts since
Aug 29, 2004
6. Aug 24, 2005 11:23 AM in response to: j_drake
Re: Are we being too smug...
Well, look at it this way, UNIX has been around for how many years now? How many UNIX virii are you aware of? From that perspective, you won't see many pop up for OS X either.

'NUFF SAID
Click to view jdb8167's profile Enthusiast 1,501 posts since
Aug 30, 2004
7. Aug 24, 2005 1:28 PM in response to: j_drake
Re: Are we being too smug...
In reply to:<hr />
as OS X becomes more mainstream, and surely we all know it will, wont that attract more notice, and will that notice/attention not bring more cr@p down on our smug little fiefdoms?

<hr />


To create a virus on OS X you need a exploit. Those happen occasionally but they are usually fixed within a few weeks. The fix is propagated to nearly every Mac OS X machine in the world within another week because nearly everyone has automatic updates enabled. So, you have a window of usually less than 1 month to create and release a Mac virus. This window may show up two or three times a year but you aren't likely to be able to predict the frequency.

On top of all that, there has never been a single successful OS X exploit in the wild. So there is no expectation of success on the part of the virus writers. Now I can see that as an incentive as well as a deterrent but considering most malware is now being written to make actual money, the disincentive of not having any known success attacking OS X has to be higher than the incentive of becoming anonymously famous.

The final piece of the puzzle is that the percentage of OS X machines in use is small compared to Windows. Even if Apple doubles its market share in the next couple of years, the percentage of OS X v. Windows is still going to be small. That means that even if you overcame the other problems, your success rate would still be lower than if you attacked Windows successfully which is known to be easier (whether that is true or not.)

The equation for having a Mac virus is not really in favor of seeing one:
1. Short, infrequent windows of vulnerability and it is very hard to predict how long the window is going to be open.
2. No known successes. Script kiddies need not apply.
3. Smaller target for attack v. larger target that is thought to be easier.
4. Likelihood of profit is low.
Click to view Nobody's profile New Member 58,347 posts since
Oct 18, 2007
8. Aug 24, 2005 8:10 PM in response to: MW Forums
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
McAfee has added support for Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger"
> to its Virex virus detection and eradication software.

So what Tiger-specific tweaks were there...? Can Spotlight now search inside of PC viruses...? Is there now a Virex Dashboard widget...? Does McAfee now offer an RSS feed that Safari can subscribe to...? Can Tiger customers now iChat AV via h.264 & QT 7 to McAfee tech support or customer service...? Can Virex be Automatored into a workflow...? How exactly was Virex Tiger-fied/ized...? Did Tiger break Virex, and now Virex works again, but it'll cost you an upgrade...? Did I miss the answers to these questions in this article...?


ds.
Los Angeles, CA
Click to view whitedog's profile Enthusiast 961 posts since
Aug 9, 2004
9. Aug 25, 2005 7:47 PM in response to: MW Forums
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
If you follow the history of Virex and OS X on MacFixIt, youd hesitate to buy any version of it. Norton Anti-Virus isnt much better. So far I havent seen an anti-virus program for OS X that isnt as much trouble as the viruses it supposedly protects us from. I wonder if the difficulty in designing a virus protection application for OS X isnt as great as creating a Mac virus in the first place.

Depending on the network environment a Mac works in, the cost of Virex might be more or less difficult to justify.


Don't anthropomorphize computers - They hate that.
Click to view macnuke's profile Old Hand 6,659 posts since
Mar 5, 2004
10. Aug 25, 2005 7:56 PM in response to: MW Forums
Re: McAfee adds Tiger support to Virex
ok.. so they support an OS that has no virus's
i will be sure to run down and pay good money to bloat my system.
sorry guys... I know they are trying to make a living, and there were a few OS9's out there.
but my .docs originate with me or they are corporate .docs.. and they have a rather large arsenal of AVware with the server scanning each and every file that goes thru it.

call me when a virus is released for Tiger.
until then.. good day