The 2020 State of Malware (Mac)

Stupidity should be painful.

Get It Try It

See this. Follow the links if you're masochistic. Your day's just been enriched.

https://is.gd/ac8BHw

This is so wearisome. Why even bother?

One reason is: despite what people may think of Apple v2.0, they have about 10% of the PC market today. Which is really piss-poor when that's all they achieve after twenty years at it. But then again, the way they do things, 10% is quite a lot.

Another reason is: to quote our graphics guru, 'stupidity should be painful'. For so many years, we watched idiots waddle in their own juices on Windows. Then we saw what the fanboys do to Apple's Unix. Most Mac users are not fanboys per se. So what's important here is they don't get railroaded by carpetbaggers. And, in this day and age, assume everyone is a carpetbagger.

You cannot compare Windows with 'Mac'. Windows is an operating system (or at least has the ambition to be one) whilst 'Mac' is hardware. Or something. If you want to compare stuff, then compare Windows to Unix. And have a good look at Unix. Pick up a copy of Hacking Exposed and read it and get a feel for the terrain.

There are no viruses on 'Mac'. Because there are no viruses on Unix. Because Unix has mandatory access control, is the short version.

And it might be good to start with defining virus. And trojan. And why not worm, just in cases.

Virus is code that attaches to an executable or boot sector.

Worm is something that replicates from machine to machine.

Trojan is something that pretends to be one thing but is actually something else.

The world of Windows is infamous for its worms. For the mother of all worms, ILOVEYOU. Code Red was a kind of worm too, as it attacked Microsoft web server software that people didn't even knew they had, then propagated further. Trojans is what they're experiencing on 'Mac'. As 'adware'. Because the system isn't compromised. Only Mac users are hit. And the only reason they're hit is they're fucking stupid. Their systems per se are still intact.

Which is more than you can say for Windows.

That about covers it. Don't forget: you can't cure stupidity - Mac users prove it every day.

'Malware Bytes advised the best defence was vigilance and your own behaviour.'

'Of all the threats seen this year, only one incident involved anything other than tricking the user into downloading and opening something they shouldn't.'

About Rixstep

Stockholm/London-based Rixstep are a constellation of programmers and support staff from Radsoft Laboratories who tired of Windows vulnerabilities, Linux driver issues, and cursing x86 hardware all day long. Rixstep have many years of experience behind their efforts, with teaching and consulting credentials from the likes of British Aerospace, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Lloyds TSB, SAAB Defence Systems, British Broadcasting Corporation, Barclays Bank, IBM, Microsoft, and Sony/Ericsson.

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