uh, yeah, the sky isn't falling, therefore it never will..... NOT. i've been hacked running netscape under os 8.6, a remote person was actually reading my hard drive. the machine was sending data while i was on a static page, and i'd been left with a cookie with the name of my boot drive. this vulnerability was publicized a week later with an immediate patch. it did happen, and it was not a virus or an os fault, just a netscape fault.
99% of the code for any application that has a mac and a pc version will be the same! that's how porting and using libraries works. this means poorly written code from microsoft, will be poor on a mac as well in terms of security and a basic lack of caring about security while writing the code. security can not be added later to an application, it must be written in from the start!. there was an os 9 virus that wiped out files, and propagated on any type of media! there were immediately several programs the killed that virus and scanned media for it. there was a huge, huge bug in os x because of it's bsd underpinnings. this flaw allowed a remoter user to easily execute arbitrary code on the target machine (i.e., they can do whatever they want, they can search the drive, transfer it, modify the drive, monitor the keyboard etc.). no one ever exploited this with any know virus or pre made program for the script kiddies, but it existed in os x and bsd for many years. it was publicly announced and immediately patched in all versions of bsd and current os x versions. it could easily have been detected by a net intruder first, and may have been used on a low volume basis by some few people who were aware of it. there will be other bugs, even in these well examined os's, because they are software, and all software has bugs, and always will. Bruce Johnson wrote: > > On Sep 21, 2004, at 4:36 PM, David Dudine wrote: > > > > > I, too was told to forget about viruses when I started in home > > computing > > with the Mac about three years ago. Then, I read a few magazine > > articles > > and got a little scared. > > Don't believe all that you read...and don't forget that for far too > many magazines 'computer' == 'Windows PC'. The AV companies all pay for ------- -- President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft have committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America. <www.VoteToImpeach.org> They should be charged with high treason and imprisoned frankly. If there is no rule of law there can be no civilization. -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
