In the past we’ve pointed out that Apple’s veil of malware-immunity was likely to be lifted at some point. It isn’t anything personal (I use iOS everything), it’s just that when anything scales as big as Apple has, there’s bound to be pesky folks out there trying to stir up trouble.
Ed Bott over at ZDNet posted an interview with an AppleCare rep who confirmed that there has indeed been a recent boom in Mac malware.
In a new exploratory post, Bott looks to another source for confirmation: Apple forums.
Here’s one example:
I have a virus — **** sites keep popping up in the middle of what I’m doing. How do I get rid of this virus?
This morning my MacPro had a **** site on it. aghh. And now, in the middle of doing anything on my Mac, **** pops up. How do I get rid of it….specifically….step by step?
And two:
A macprotector was installed on my mac how do i get it off?
I was browsing a web site and all of a sudden a program called “macprotector” stalled on it’s own and it ran a scan and afterwards told me that i had trojans an such of that nature. And during this time a new window opened up and opened to ***** websites.
And so on and so forth.
His post has a few more examples — and mind you this is a relatively small sample size — but I have to agree with what he’s trying to prove here.
This isn’t a Mac vs. PC thing, and it isn’t meant to incite anything panic-y.
Think of it as more a gentle reminder that, yes, malware is becoming more commonplace on Macs because MORE PEOPLE ARE USING THEM, so it’s best to exercise some caution with your clicks instead of assuming that your OS is virus proof. That’s all.
(via ZDNet)
More on TIME.com:
How to Avoid or Remove ‘Mac Defender’ Malware