[NPMUG] Snow Leopard malware protection in action

[Dave Sevick]

http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/08/28/snow-leopard-malware-protection/

Snow Leopard, Apple's latest version of the Mac OS X operating system,  
has been released.

In the last few days there has been lots of speculation about Snow  
Leopard containing anti-virus functionality to protect against the  
rising problem of Mac malware.

Well, now Snow Leopard is out you can see for yourself how it behaves.  
Here's a video showing what it can do and - perhaps importantly - what  
it can't do:

The malware problem on Apple Macs is very small compared to Windows,  
but it does exist. So, well done to Apple for taking their first baby  
steps in countering it.

Apple didn't make a big song-and-dance about the inclusion of this  
malware protection facility in Snow Leopard which surprised some as  
the new version of the operating system wasn't exactly bulging with  
new functionality.

But maybe it's clear why they didn't want to pre-announce it now - the  
protection only covers two families of Mac Trojan horse and is not  
equivalent to a true anti-virus product (it won't protect you if you  
try to copy an infected file from a USB stick for instance, and  
doesn't offer clean-up facilities). Indeed Apple is at pains to insist  
that people should not describe this as an anti-virus.

However, the limited protection that Apple has implemented may help  
otherwise incautious and unsuspecting users.

It would be marvellous if this is also the first step in Apple  
becoming more involved in the fight against cybercrime. Wouldn't it be  
great if Apple could quickly move forward to build a collaborative  
programme - rather like Microsoft's MAPP initiative - to unite with  
the computer security industry?

The bottom line is this - it's no longer uncool to have anti-virus on  
your Mac. If you want to go a step further than what Apple is offering  
with Snow Leopard, test drive our product today.



http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/08/28/snow-leopard-malware-protection/


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