[X4U] Did this guy short AAPL?

[Randy B.Singer]

Robert Nicholson said:

>Anybody know the specifics of this "so called" virus that he was  
>infected by?

It wasn't a virus.  It was a Trojan Horse, and this one was identified 
and reported in the press weeks ago.  This is old news.  And that article 
was nothing more than a Mac hit piece.

Viruses are self-replicating.  When he clicked on was a Trojan Horse.  
Unless someone intentionally sends you a Trojan Horse somehow, it can't 
spread.  That's why Trojans are very rare.  Once users find out about 
where a Trojan came from, folks avoid the source and the Trojan is 
usually pulled.  Generally, you only encounter Trojans when you are doing 
things you shouldn't be doing, like downloading files on peer to peer 
networks (e.g. LimeWire), 

The article says:
>He and at least one other person who clicked on the links were infected 

Wow!  Maybe two people were infected by this Trojan!  That *is* a concern.

>by 
>what security experts call the first virus for Mac OS X...

What "experts" call it a virus?  There are no citations.  Answer: none.  
It isn't a virus.

The article goes on to talk about "vulnerabilities."  Guess what?  Nobody 
cares.  Every computer has vulnerabilities, and new ones are found all 
the time.  Ordinary users don't have to be concerned about potential 
vulnerabilities.  By the time the bad guys get around to writing some 
malware to exploit a vulnerability, generally Apple has patched it.  
Apple is constantly issuing patches, that's why it is a good idea to keep 
your software updated.  

As long as Apple is keeping on top of security, nobody is going to try to 
write malware to take advantage of newly discovered vulnerabilities, 
because they would be wasting their time to do so.

That article was pure FUD.



Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

Routine OS X Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html