Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Apple Recommends Antivirus

I don't know if you know that expression: "when Hell freezes over"... but it sure has been freezing cold lately.

Particularly when you consider Apple's own recommendations, telling you should run - not just one, but several - anti virus programs on your Mac.

So, although one of the most advertised features: "Macs need no Anti-virus" is about to be put to rest.

Although an Operating System might be more or less secure than others, the truth is *every* OS has its own security flaws. The real issue is: how many people are trying to find it, how many people are trying to take advantage of it, and how many people are working on fixing it?

Windows still represents the largest percentage of the computers out there, and as such it's a primary target.

As other OS's become more popular, they'll too become a more interesting target for attackers, and these people will try to make the most out of each OS weaknesses.

In this scenario, an open-source OS like Linux may have the added advantage of quicker security patches being released - but make no mistake: any outdated and unpatched system is as vulnerable as the rest.

Besides, no matter how "secure" an OS is, nothing prevents its owner from installing a "internet accelerator program" - which is reality will be a virus or malware program.

So, as weird as it may sound... maybe antivirus programs may soon become as popular in Linux as they're in Windows right now.

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