It's official: Apple computers are no longer virus-free
Tony Avelar/AP
"It doesn't get PC viruses" has become "It's built to be safe."
One of Apple computers' key selling points -- besides their cultishness, their coolness, etc., etc. -- has been their resistance to viruses. Mac hardware is "built on the world's most advanced operating system," the company's site declares; and part of that system's sophistication, Apple has emphasized, has been an exceptionally strong immune system. PCs, Mac marketing has suggested, shun OJ and shirk on sleep and could probably stand to wash their hands a little more often; Mac machines, on the other hand, are effectively impervious to malware.
Well, were. Back in April, the Flashback botnet struck more than 600,000 Mac computers worldwide, with more than 300,000 of the machines affected in the U.S. Hackers searching for user information -- passwords, financial account numbers -- took advantage of a weakness in Java programs to gain access to Mac users' machines. Nearly 300 of April's Flashback attacks were aimed at Apple computers that were based in Cupertino itself.
Read more at The Atlantic.
Read more at The Atlantic.