In what appears to be a first, Apple is recommending that Mac users install antivirus software.
But don’t read this as an admission that the Mac operating system is suddenly insecure. It’s more a recognition that Mac users are vulnerable to Web application exploits, which have replaced operating system vulnerabilities as the bigger threat to computer users.
Apple quietly signaled its shift with an item titled “Mac OS: Antivirus utilities” posted on its Support Web site November 21: “Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.”
The item offers three software suggestions: Intego VirusBarrier X5 and Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 11 for Macintosh, both available from the Apple Online Store, and McAfee VirusScan for Mac.
Brian Krebs, who first reported on the Apple antivirus recommendation Monday in his Security Fix blog at The Washington Post, said an Apple store employee told him he didn’t need antivirus software when he purchased a MacBook three months ago.
Apple urges Mac customers to use anti-virus software, signaling a shift away from the long-time message that Mac users are immune to security issues.
(Credit: Apple)
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Originally posted at News – Security
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USB thumb drives are convenient, popular and often free — and they’re spreading viruses like sailors on shore leave.*
The US-CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) issued a warning on Thursday that malicious code is increasingly propagating via USB flash drive devices.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense has …
Originally posted at News – Security
CNET News reporter Elinor Mills knows what it’s like to feel frustrated by computer glitches.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)
When faced with a technology breakdown, levels of optimism and frustration vary depending on age and gender, according to a new study to be released on Sunday.
That’s the straight lead. The one I was pondering writing is:
I’m a late-baby-boomer woman and I hate technology.
That’s not entirely true. I love technology when it works and is easy to use. But I get annoyed when my computer gets jangy or my wireless goes down. And apparently, I’m not unusual for my demographic.
“Younger users are generally much more optimistic than older adults when their gadgets fail,” says the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project which sponsored the survey of 2,054 U.S. adults.
“Although young adults age 18 to 29 years old are no more likely to be able to fix devices on their own, they were significantly more likely to be confident that they were on the right path to fixing it, and they were significantly less likely than older adults to feel discouraged or confused about fixing devices,” according to the report.
There is no data on whether they were successful in fixing the devices, only that they thought they could. (Elsewhere, the data shows that of the 52 percent of tech users who are comfortable learning to use new devices on their own, 35 percent fix broken technology on their own.)
Meanwhile, the gap between the percentages feeling confident when their devices fail versus discouraged and confused narrowed as the age ranges went up.
Now for gender-based differences:
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Toronto police launched an innovative gun amnesty program on Wednesday. It’s dubbed Pixels for Pistols, and through it, police are offering to give out a Nikon digital camera to anyone turning in a firearm.
Hand over your gun, get a camera–and photography classes.
(Credit: Nikon)
A handgun or assault …
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