Apple to Update Mac OS X to Remove 'Mac Defender' Malware

[Shaun N.]

"But Macs can't get viruses and malware - it's very secure".

Apple has never stated that, only pointed out that it can't catch PC Virus' - Apples users may have said things of that kind but you can't put down apple for the words of its users.

[Southern Patriot]

Apple's iOS is another OS that is going to face this problem as its platform continues to grow.

Apple's approval process for apps pretty much insures that won't be the case, unless you are talking about apps from Cydia. Not much that Apple can do about that.

[Southern Patriot]

Apples users may have said things of that kind but you can't put down apple for the words of its users.

More often than not though, it isn't even Apple users saying it, but anti-Apple trolls making up these mythical quotes out of thin air.

[BajiRav]

As .Neo has repeatedly asked, please show where Apple has EVER said that. Until you can prove that, STFU and stop claiming that they did.

2 min search on youtube for this Mac commercial that can be interpreted either way (There are thousands of virus for pc but not for Macs i.e. no viruses for mac)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQb_Q8WRL_g

[.Neo]

2 min search on youtube for this Mac commercial that can be interpreted either way (There are thousands of virus for pc but not for Macs i.e. no viruses for mac)

Unlike for the PC platform, there are no thousands of viruses out in the wild for Mac. No lie in that either. Next to that malware ? virus.

[BajiRav]

There are no thousands of viruses out in the wild for Mac. No lie in that either. Next to that malware ? virus.

There are not thousands of viruses out in the wild for Windows Vista/7 either. Virus is a type of malware. ;)

[.Neo]

There are not thousands of viruses out in the wild for Windows Vista/7 either. Virus is a type of malware. ;)

Windows Vista nor Windows 7 were released by May 2006. The YouTube video you posted above was put online there May 2, 2006, meaning the commercial was shot even before then.

And yes, while you could say a virus is a type of malware Apple still specifically says that the subcategory "PC virus" doesn't affect Mac OS X, not malware in general (see the Mac OS X security page). There's still no lie in that.

[Samurizer]

Again, show us where Apple officially states that Mac OS X is invulnerable to any form of virus, malware, phishing or whatever. And again, by that I don't mean someone somewhere within the company screwing up once or twice. You seem to be running away from that. Apple saying that Mac OS X is invulnerable to PC (Windows) viruses is pure marketing and not to mention 100% correct. If Apple officially and repetitively claimed that Mac OS X is invulnerable to malware in general, they're plain wrong and can be sued for millions of euros. However, to my recollection they haven't claimed such a thing.

I honestly can't blame a company, any company for that matter, for not coming out and specifically debunk positive myths people created themselves surrounding their products. That would be just a silly thing to do.

Apple doesn't have to "officially" state it. They have all their representatives doing the dirty work for them. Like I've pointed out, Apple has demonstrated on more than one occasion it has complete control over what it wants Apple reps to say, but it chose to remain silent and subtly encourage this BS, and allow it to go on for decades.

Again, a deliberate and concerted misinformation tactic for marketing purposes. Or do you really believe Apple is above that?

[.Neo]

Apple doesn't have to "officially" state it. They have all their representatives doing the dirty work for them. Like I've pointed out, Apple has demonstrated on more than one occasion it has complete control over what it wants Apple reps to say, but it chose to remain silent and subtly encourage this BS, and allow it to go on for decades.

Again, a deliberate and concerted misinformation tactic for marketing purposes.

Stop running away and present us proof of it. At every single turn you fail to do so. I don't want to see some obscure website quoted talking about some vague rep guy in an Apple Store or working at the Apple Care hotline screwing up. Show that Apple wants reps worldwide to deliberately misinform people about the fact that Mac OS X is completely unaffected by every type of malware.

Or do you really believe Apple is above that?

Not at all, however, let's not pretend other companies are.

[Southern Patriot]

Again, show us proof. At every turn you fail to do so.

He won't because he can't. He's trolling. Ignore him.

[Samurizer]

Again, show us proof. At every turn you fail to do so.

Wait, lemme get this straight. So you're trying to deny that Apple has been standing idly by watching its reps push out this message for decades now? And all the poor Mac users who believed that their machines were malware-proof just dreamed it up?

Not at all, however, let's not pretend other companies are.

Um, this is an Apple thread. How about you just start another one if you feel the need to mitigate the damage by attacking other companies?

He won't because he can't. He's trolling. Ignore him.

Dude. Just because someone tells you facts that you don't like hearing, doesn't mean they're trolling. Learn how to have discussions like a grownup.

[.Neo]

Wait, lemme get this straight. So you're trying to deny that Apple has been standing idly by watching its reps push out this message for decades now? And all the poor Mac users who believed that their machines were malware-proof just dreamed it up?

Stop running away by returning questions and show us proof that backs up your claims.

[Samurizer]

Stop running away by returning questions and show us proof that backs up your claims.

How about you stop running away, and come clean on whether you're denying it or not instead of playing the same trick as Apple did with the malware issue?

[.Neo]

How about you stop running away, and come clean on whether you're denying it or not instead of playing the same trick as Apple did with the malware issue?

I'm not the one accusing Apple of anything, all I want is proof of what you're accusing Apple of. So far you can't give that to us.

What I'm denying is that Apple officially said that Mac OS X is completely unaffected by any type of malware. I managed to back that up by simply posting a screen shot of the Mac OS X security page. I haven't made a secret of that at all, so I don't have to come clean on anything. At this point you gave us nothing.

[Samurizer]

Don't turn things around. You cannot backup your claims simple as that.

I don't have to turn anything around. It's obvious how scared you are to put your official stance on the record. You know just as well as everyone else how Apple subtly encouraged and allowed this BS to spread, even though it exercises iron-fist control over everything else. Apple reps everywhere have been telling everyone Macs are immune while Apple stood by and watched, and the very reason MacDefender is such big news in the first place is because it's "common knowledge" that Macs can't catch viruses.

You can continue droning on and on about how Apple never "officially" said it, except that that's hardly the point. They don't have to. And they're smarter than that, too. All they had to was mislead people into believing as such, encourage the misconception, and do little to nothing to debunk it. Mission accomplished.

[.Neo]

I don't have to turn things around. It's obvious how scared you are to put your official stance on the record. You know just as well as everyone else how Apple subtly encouraged and allowed this BS to spread, even though it exercises iron-fist control over everything else. Apple reps everywhere have been telling everyone Macs are immune while Apple stood by and watched, and the very reason MacDefender is such big news in the first place is because it's "common knowledge" that Macs can't catch viruses.

My official stance on the matter has been stated in this thread multiple times. What I want now is you providing proof of your claims, and yet you can't.

You can continue droning on and on about how Apple never "officially" said it, except that that's hardly the point. They don't have to. All they had to was mislead people into believing as such, encourage the misconception, and do little to nothing to debunk it. Mission accomplished.

Apple's official stance regarding the matter is exactly the point, since that's the only thing any Mac user should trust. Not words on the streets. Of course they're not going to actively debunk positive myths people created themselves, it would be an extremely stupid thing to do for any commercial company.

[Samurizer]

My official stance on the matter has been stated in this thread multiple times. What I want now is you providing proof of your claims, and yet you can't.

So you're not scared of putting your official stance on record. Good for you. So answer the question. Are you trying to deny that Apple has been standing idly by watching its reps push out this message for decades now, and all the poor Mac users who believed that their machines were malware-proof just dreamed it up?

Apple's official stance regarding the matter is exactly the point. Of course they're not going to actively debunk positive myths people created themselves, it would be an extremely stupid thing to do for any commercial company.

It would be the ethical and responsible thing to do, especially when they're the source of those myths. But if you don't think ethics and responsibility mean anything when compared to the financial bottom line, then I guess we'll just have to agree to differ.

[BajiRav]

I'm not the one accusing Apple of anything, all I want is proof of what you're accusing Apple of. So far you can't give that to us.

What I'm denying is that Apple officially said that Mac OS X is completely unaffected by any type of malware. I haven't made a secret of that at all, so I don't have to come clean on anything. I managed to back that up by simply posting a screen shot of the Mac OS X security page. At this point you gave us nothing.

You are the one in denial if you don't remember that Apple has always implied that there is no virus (which most people use for all types of malware) problem on Mac. As I said, if I had enough motivation - I could dig up a boastful quote of either Job or Schiller (more likely) dropping the legally correct "PC" when referring to viruses. I already showed you one ad that can be interpreted as such - doesn't matter if it came out in 2006 (I am sure it was all over the web much later as well).

I faintly remember during the run up to Windows 7, Schiller said something like doesn't matter how good is Win 7 but it's still Windows and has the same problem as previous windows of viruses and macs don't have all the problems that windows users face.

It's funny how people (probably not you) always claimed that Macs don't have any "real" virus (again most probably meant malware) threat until this **** hit the fan. Now the conversation has shifted to Apple never said that. Funny. There are a number of people on this forum that have laughed at most previous incidents as "only PoC, there is nothing in the wild". Where are they now?

Apple's official stance regarding the matter is exactly the point, since that's the only thing any Mac user should trust. Not words on the streets. Of course they're not going to actively debunk positive myths people created themselves, it would be an extremely stupid thing to do for any commercial company.

Apple's official stance is that iPhone 4 has no antenna problem either. Microsoft's official stance is that IE is an integral part of Windows and they never abused their monopoly.

[.Neo]

So you're not scared of putting your official stance on record. Good for you. So answer the question. Are you trying to deny that Apple has been standing idly by watching its reps push out this message for decades now, and all the poor Mac users who believed that their machines were malware-proof just dreamed it up?

I'm not denying nor confirming your claims. I have no idea if Apple has ever done so, since I have never seen any proof of it. You can't provide any proof of it either, so I'll remain skeptical and I keep asking you to show us examples of those practices. That's my official stance. I'm not going to be forced by you to pick a side without having evidence to base a decision on. All I know for a fact is that Apple's official stance is that PC viruses don't affect Mac OS X, not malware in general. For the second time, customers should listen to that and not to the latest word on the street.

It would be the ethical and responsible thing to do. If you don't think they should've done that, then that's that, I suppose.

It would be the most ethical thing to do. However, at the end of the day any commercial company tries to make as much money as possible and they're not going to hurt sales unless they absolutely have to. So it's my opinion that it's not realistic to expect Apple to debunk positive myths surrounding their products.

You are the one in denial if you don't remember that Apple has always implied that there is no virus (which most people use for all types of malware) problem on Mac. As I said, if I had enough motivation - I could dig up a boastful quote of either Job or Schiller (more likely) dropping the legally correct "PC" when referring to viruses. I already showed you one ad that can be interpreted as such - doesn't matter if it came out in 2006 (I am sure it was all over the web much later as well).

Viruses can be considered a type of malware, malware however isn't limited to a virus. Apple doesn't claim malware doesn't affect Mac OS X, Apple claims PC viruses don't affect Mac OS X. That's absolutely correct. Why do we need to go over and over this again?

Apple's official stance is that iPhone 4 has no antenna problem either. Microsoft's official stance is that IE is an integral part of Windows and they never abused their monopoly.

That has nothing to do with this subject.

[Samurizer]

I'm not denying nor confirming your claims. I have no idea if Apple has ever done so, since I have never seen any proof of it.

Why would you need proof that Apple has never tried to correct the misconceptions it encourages about Macs being immune to malware?

You're kidding, right?

[.Neo]

Why would you need proof that Apple has never tried to correct the misconceptions it encourages about Macs being immune to malware?

You're kidding, right?

Because you're trying to sell your personal theories as facts and I want to see you backup your claims. Simple as that. Four pages later and you still haven't been able to give a single piece of real hard evidence of such practices.

[SuperKid]

Windows Vista nor Windows 7 were released by May 2006. The YouTube video you posted above was put online there May 2, 2006, meaning the commercial was shot even before then.

And yes, while you could say a virus is a type of malware Apple still specifically says that the subcategory "PC virus" doesn't affect Mac OS X, not malware in general (see the Mac OS X security page). There's still no lie in that.

You know a PC means anything from a Windows based machine, to a Linux based machine to a Mac computer, as the definition of PC is actually "Personal Computer".

PC is not Windows. Just think they should say Windows and not PC

[.Neo]

You know a PC means anything from a Windows based machine, to a Linux based machine to a Mac computer, as the definition of PC is actually "Personal Computer".

PC is not Windows. Just think they should say Windows and not PC

The term "PC" as a platform has been marketed as being Windows-based computers for a while now. Just like the Mac platform refers to computers running Mac OS. Many software titles and hardware now and in the past have/had a "PC" stamp on their retail boxes which indicated they were written for computers running Windows, not Linux or Mac OS.

When talking about Mac or PC, we're talking about Mac OS or Windows. Everyone knows that.

[Samurizer]

Because you're trying to sell your personal theories as facts and I want to see you backup your claims. Simple as that. Four pages later and you still haven't been able to give a single piece of real hard evidence of such practices.

Because it's blatantly obvious Apple hasn't. Their reps continue to sell the BS as Apple turns a blind eye to it. Even you are of the opinion that it's "not realistic to expect Apple to debunk positive myths surrounding their products".

Apple was quick to order its reps to not confirm malware infections, but it allowed the misinformation to spread for decades. Again, it's the reason why MacDefender is such big news at all. I really don't see how you can argue that the lack of action wasn't deliberate.

[Southern Patriot]

Their reps continue to sell the BS as Apple turns a blind eye to it.

Which reps are those?? Please, as we have asked you before, show us any evidence of this.

Apple was quick to order its reps to not confirm malware infections, but it allowed the misinformation to spread for decades.

How can Apple have allowed misinformation about OS X's lack of viruses to spread "for decades" when it has only been on the market for exactly ONE decade now? Prior to OS X, it was a fairly well known fact that Classic MacOS was very vulnerable to viruses.