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A year ago, Maryland technology companies were holding rallies and pushing a last-minute lobbying campaign at the State House as they tried to persuade legislators not to impose a new tax on the industry.
MacChat: iAntiVirus for Mac, just in case …
WHILE the need for anti-virus software on the Mac remains debatable, developer PC Tools says the Mac community has been responsive to its iAntiVirus software, which recently came out of beta.
The beta version was downloaded 250,000 times, making it the No.1 Mac anti-virus utility on Download.com.
This could be partly due to the large number of former PC users still adjusting to the concept of using a computer without virus scanning. However it could also be due to the number of Mac security scares that have made headlines the past few years. These have later been debunked, but often the damage has already been done to the Mac’s virus-free image.
It remains true that at the moment, Mac users still have little to worry about security-wise. Due to OS X’s authentication process for installing software, viruses cannot self-install or self-propagate. However for those who are ultra-paranoid and want to cover all bases, iAntiVirus is worth a look.
iAntiVirus will scan for “proof of concept” viruses, which have only been demonstrated under laboratory conditions and which are highly unlikely to be encountered in the real world.
It is of more use for trojans, which trick users into authorising their installation. While common sense is often defence enough, you can never be 100 per cent sure if an e-mail attachment or download source is trustworthy. The trojan protection acts like a phishing filter, alerting a user to a potential threat before they install it.
There can also be security holes in Apple’s Safari browser or iTunes media player, and third-party applications such as Microsoft Office, that under very specific conditions (eg visiting a particular website) could pose a threat.
Interface-wise, iAntiVirus is as Mac-like as they come, with OS X’s trademark clean “smooth metal” interface and non-intrusive alerts when it’s doing its job.
iAntiVirus spares system resources by only scanning for the small amount of Mac malware on record. It does not look for the vast number of Windows viruses, worms and trojans circulating on the internet.
The downside of this is, without any scanning for Windows malware a Mac user could unwittingly pass on malicious code to a PC-using friend via e-mail, which is a much greater risk than the Mac itself getting infected.
Another disadvantage is that iAntiVirus only runs on Intel Macs running OS X Leopard. This shuts out a significant but shrinking proportion of Mac users.
If you’re still not convinced that you need iAntiVirus, it’s hard to argue with the pricetag: free for all malware scanning features. For $A29.95, however, you can get the business package which includes online and phone support.
Since the advent of the highly secure OS X, Apple has been shipping Macs with the firewall turned off by default, a measure of the company’s confidence in its operating system’s inherent security.
In December Apple even removed a recommendation for anti-virus software from its website, with spokesman Bill Evans telling Macworld magazine: “‘We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate. The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box.”
Some might argue this is tempting fate, and that with Mac use on the rise it’s only a matter of time before that security is breached. However with up to 10 per cent market share in the US and still no viruses, the evidence would seem to be on Apple’s side.
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