[X4U] New Trojan threatens Macs with installer...

[Kirk McElhearn]

On Nov 20, 2008, at 8:47 PM, Ed Gould wrote:

> On Nov 19, 2008, at 2:34 PM, Kirk McElhearn wrote:
>
>>
>> On Nov 19, 2008, at 9:31 PM, Paul Moortgat wrote:
>>
>>> It's kind of telling the truth and then selling their stuff to  
>>> counter it.  Not to alarm people to buy their stuff unnecessary.
>>
>> So you're saying they're not telling the truth? And the other  
>> companies who later announced the same thing are lying too?
>>
>>
>> Kirk
>>
>>
>
> I will toss my .02 in here (if that means anything). There is, IMO,  
> a bit of animosity going on here and there are secret agendas as  
> well. Microsoft is behind part of this as they are tired of hearing  
> about MS issues and viruses so they want to make it appear as a  
> "BIG" issue of MAC's as well. There is also some of the legendary  
> anti (both MS AND MAC) hate going on.
> You just have to be careful and look at histories in these  
> announcements some companies have am agenda to sell their wares and  
> they are over inflating any reports just to sell their product(s).  
> There are *MULTIPLE* agendas and you have to be suspicious  of  
> anyone. Its a complicated game and as usual it always "DEPENDS".  It  
> is (IMO) like political scandal (take your pick as to which one) you  
> have to sit back and look at the players and the histories of ALL  
> sides before you can make an intelligent decision. I will not delve  
> further into any specific current topic as its up to the user to  
> decide what is suspect(and its off topic). When it comes to  
> corporate/political issues it is almost never black and white so sit  
> back and read a lot and read what the real independent people have  
> to say and then make up your own mind.

Well, "up to the user to decide" is like saying that Fox News is fair  
and balanced. Because the user doesn't know; they don't see the  
malware, see how it works, or understand how widespread it is.

You see, I'm a Mac journalist, and I follow this stuff closely. I get  
samples of malware when many of these things appear, and I write about  
security occasionally for Macworld. So I do know just a bit about this  
issue. What strikes me as odd is the fact that there is a small but  
vocal minority of Mac users who like to demonize the security  
companies who issue alerts and warnings, as if it were there fault  
that there is malware out there. And before you reply, "but there is  
no Mac malware", think carefully. Not only is there Mac malware, but  
plenty of un-savvy users get stung. (Note that I said "malware" not  
"viruses" which propagate on their own.)

Of course the security companies do this for two reasons: one to  
announce the existence of the malware, and the other to announce their  
products, but I would tend to think that the customers of these  
companies are quite happy that they act as quickly as they (or some of  
them) do.

As an aside, I find it interesting that Sophos couldn't make the  
difference between two pieces of Mac malware:

http://blog.intego.com/2008/11/20/sophos-just-cant-get-things-straight-about-this-weeks-malware/

Usually they're more savvy than that.


Kirk
            Author of: Take Control of Users & Accounts in Leopard
                       http://www.mcelhearn.com/tco.html
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              Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com
           Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more