February 21, 2006
Apple Malware Galore
There is a new piece of malware for OS X circulating this week - this time, it's called OSX.Inqtana.A (actually that's the SYMC designatation). The malware itself isn't that original, isn't that complicated, and probably won't spread very quickly. However, according to one of the Sophos engineers the article cites:
Apple Mac users need to be just as careful about protecting their computers with anti-virus software, firewalls and security patches as their friends and colleagues using Windows.
Oh, but we're not - which isn't good news for most OS X users. On my Mac, for example: I don't have an AV product running, I patch the machine when it reminds me (I think once a week or so), and I punched a bunch of holes in the OS X firewall to allow various services. I think I'm at least "Joe Average" when it comes to keeping my Mac secure - maybe a little bit more diligent because I am security guy. Between that carefree attitude of Mac users and the fact that Apple is consistently slower in releasing security patches than other vendors, I think the whole Mac population could be caught with its proverbial pants down in the event of a real worm. The only thing we have in our favor is the fact that the user population is low - in order to work up to a good distribution rate, 2% of the population doesn't cut it.