On Dec 06, 2004, at 5:59 PM, Jeff @ SLYN Systems wrote: > Hey Jerry, Bill and Harry, > I'd like to offer just a teeny bit more of food for thought. > Would you agree this is a numbers game???Wouldn't most wackos?write a > virus because they want fame, money or to release anger?
While not discounting the fame or anger bit at all, today's virus / spam writings are looking for money. Certainly considering every $ or identity that can be stolen off of a computer is adding to the cause, but consider if you are going to enter "that life of crime" as a business concern (make money from this) which is easier (by analogy) knocking off well guarded banks or knocking off poorly guarded corner food stores and gas stations? As far as numbers goes, the returns from successfully knocking off a bank are greater, but so is the effort to be successful. Much easier to get the corner store. (Uh, you folks working at Carnivore do realize this is a theoretical exercise right? Eh?) > With Macs holding 3.2% of the market share, Apple is a smaller target > for fame, money or anger. Uh, do not confused installed base with last month's sales share. Apple has well over 10% if you look at the installed base (actual computers being used). If you want to get confused consider that current forecasts are calling for a reduction of close - soon computer sales to be down to 9% instead of the expected 11% (for all companies), but that Apple is expected to grow its share of that 9%. [I am myself confused over this one, because I think that there will be 100% of the computer sold actually sold, but that is just me.] Heck don't forget that sales of X-serve systems for Apple last year were way over 200% from the previous year. Numbers are such neat things, but sometimes folks use them in weird ways. > http://www.macminute.com/2004/01/15/marketshare > Whatcha thin Babalouie? > If there wasn't a virus threat on the Mac, would people still buy the > Norton Antivirus or Virex for the Mac?? Of course, am not saying it's > a signifcan't threat.? Just offering another point of view. > All the best, > Even though there are no viruses for Mac OS-X (and very few for earlier Mac OSes), for many using Macs in the business world, antivirus measures are needed, so that emails they forward to windoze using colleagues do not have the viral nasties going along for the ride and then infesting the windroids. Viruses do directly affect Mac users, because when the danged things clog up the internet or overwhelm your ISP's mail service, or mess up your ATM service or perhaps screw up an airport's air traffic control system, oops, sorry those are different windoze problems, ... but well I am sure that you see the things are a problem for Mac users as well. Jerry > Jeff Slyn, Owner > SLYN Systems & Peripherals > (502) 426-5469 > serving Kentuckiana clients 7 days a week since 1985! > ? > On Sun, 5 Dec 2004 13:33:09 -0500 Jerry Yeager > <jerry at browseryshop.com> writes: > > > > On Dec 04, 2004, at 11:02 PM, Harry Jacobson-Beyer wrote: > > > > > I've heard hackers don't attack Mac machines because there are so > > few > > > of > > > them (relative to the pcs). If the roles were reversed, ie Macs > > having > > > the major share of the market, wouldn't the hackers be writing > > code to > > > get to them? > > > > > > > What you have heard is one of those urban legend things. Macs on the > > > > 'net are attacked as often as the other OSes. But they are not > > broken > > into as often. > > > > Not too long ago some computer security firms tracked this and found > > > > that the most targeted systems were Linux and Mac OS-X based with > > Windoze based machines actually being the least targeted. Targeted > > here > > means that the attackers are specifically looking to exploit > > weaknesses > > in that type of OS. > > > > BUT, In terms of being broken into, it (usually) goes like this: > > > > 1) Windoze systems (very easy, many home users have been broken into > > > > and do not know that they are their machines are being used to send > > out > > the gobs of spam and viruses that infest the internet.) > > The things that attack Windoze directly as opposed to other systems > > are > > most often looking to either get credit (identity) information > > likely > > stored on the computer or to take the machine over to use as part of > > a > > zombie network. > > > > > > 99) Linux (pretty tough -- you have to find a system running with a > > > > very sloppy sysop that does not keep up on things) > > 100) Mac OS-X (not impossible but very tough, see 99). ) > > > > (Actually, if Macs and Linux systems could be easily broken into, > > they > > would be targeted even more, as these systems may have more vital > > information stored on them). > > > > ????????????????????????????????Jerry > > > > p.s. Even with Windows SP 2, there are known exploits out there to > > break into the systems. You might notice in the article none of the > > > > honey pot systems that had SP 2 running got broken into. Since SP2 > > basically just turns on a firewall, this shows that attackers are > > not > > having to work very hard at all to break into a Windoze machine. > > > > p.p.s The above does not mean that you can blindly skip those > > periodic > > security updates that Apple releases. Keep installing them! > ----------------------------------- Someday, I will come up with a clever signature line. I am not sure if I will use it or not, but I will come up with one. | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be January 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
