Yesterday we wrote about why it might be a good idea to use anti-virus on your Mac; it helps prevent the spread of viruses to Windows computers. That doesn't mean that there aren't viruses on a Mac as Apple might suggest in their Mac vs. PC advertisements. To follow up on why you might need an anti-virus client on your Mac, Sophos' Naked Security Blog compiled a history of viruses targeted at Apple computers. Fortunately the history of Mac viruses is short, the list for Windows viruses would be quite lengthy.
1982:
A 15 year old by the name of Rich Skrenta wrote the first virus for the Apple II called the Elk Cloner virus. The virus would infect the boot sector of an Apple II and on every 50th boot would display: Project eve mac os.
Of course, the question for almost any Mac user is which version of OS X is best. Most machines are compatible with several versions, so you can choose. Many people wonder about High Sierra vs Mojave. Mojave is the second-most recent version of OS X, and the last one to have support for 32-bit apps. Download Worms Special Edition for macOS 10.6 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. .On Sale Now!. 5/5 - 'Mac Format Choice Award' - 'A super version with great new visuals, new weapons and an air of hilarity' - MacFormat.co.uk 4.5/5 - 'Worms Special Edition is delightful in just about every aspect. Protect your Mac from malware. MacOS has many features that help protect your Mac and your personal information from malicious software, or malware.One common way malware is distributed is by embedding it in a harmless-looking app. The Mac experts at Intego put together a visual timeline that highlights the nastiest, most prevalent threats to demonstrate just how Mac malware has evolved since discovering the Oompa-Loompa Trojan horse. Here is a look at the evolution of Mac OS X security threats, from 2006 to 2016. Google bought Sparrow and, all of a sudden, Mac users were asking us when we would come over to their OS. And they weren't alone. We've been chatting with our users and getting requests to go on Mobile & Linux ever since we began developing. It happens at least once a day.
Elk Cloner: The program with a personality
It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes, it's Cloner!
It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too
Send in the Cloner!
Rich has gone on to create the start-up Blekko, a search engine that claims to offer better search results than Google. Gaia eternal mac os. Blekko was launched publicly on November 1, 2010.
1987:
Mountain wars mac os. A virus by the name if nVIR was released and spread via floppy disks. The source code was released shortly after the virus was introduced which led to a slew of variant versions. The virus affected Mac OS 4.1 through 8.0
1988:
HyperCard viruses were introduced. These viruses were similar to macro viruses found in Microsoft Office documents. Someone would write a malicious script which would execute on a computer causing a variety of problems for users. These viruses affected versions of the Mac OS all the way up to version 9.
1990:
The MDEF virus, also known as Garfield, would infect applications and system files. When infected the pull down menus would look garbled, the system would act oddly or even crash. There were several variants of the virus that were released in the months to follow.
1995:
The first Microsoft Word macro virus was introduced WM/Concept. This virus affected both Mac and PCs, it led to thousands of other macro viruses being introduced, many of which targeted the Mac version of Microsoft Office. Cubetv - beta mac os. This virus got a bit of a boost when Microsoft accidentally shipped some CDs containing the virus. The first CD, Microsoft Windows '95 Software Compatibility Test, was shipped to OEMs and contained a document with the virus. The second CD, Microsoft Office 95 and Windows 95 Business Guide, was released by Microsoft UK and also contained a document with the virus on it.
1996:
Laroux, the first Excel virus was introduced. Initially Mac users were immune to the virus until the release of Excel 98 which ended up making it possible for the two year old virus to start infecting Macs.
1998:
The Sevendust or 666 virus was introduced. This virus would erase all non-application files on the system. It was known as 666 because it would leave a file on your hard drive called 666 and it would only execute itself on the 6th hour of the 6th and 12th day of the month. The virus would also overwrite an applications menu with f (hex 16).
1995:
The first Microsoft Word macro virus was introduced WM/Concept. This virus affected both Mac and PCs, it led to thousands of other macro viruses being introduced, many of which targeted the Mac version of Microsoft Office. Cubetv - beta mac os. This virus got a bit of a boost when Microsoft accidentally shipped some CDs containing the virus. The first CD, Microsoft Windows '95 Software Compatibility Test, was shipped to OEMs and contained a document with the virus. The second CD, Microsoft Office 95 and Windows 95 Business Guide, was released by Microsoft UK and also contained a document with the virus on it.
1996:
Laroux, the first Excel virus was introduced. Initially Mac users were immune to the virus until the release of Excel 98 which ended up making it possible for the two year old virus to start infecting Macs.
1998:
The Sevendust or 666 virus was introduced. This virus would erase all non-application files on the system. It was known as 666 because it would leave a file on your hard drive called 666 and it would only execute itself on the 6th hour of the 6th and 12th day of the month. The virus would also overwrite an applications menu with f (hex 16).
2004:
Renepo was introduced as a worm for OS X. The virus would attempt to disable the computers security settings and download a keylogger along with some programs that would allow someone to remotely control the computer.
2006:
A virus by the name of Leap-A was introduced. This virus was only able to spread if users opened the file containing the virus.
2007:
OSX/RSPlug-A was a trojan horse that would change DNS entries on the computer. It posed itself as a codec to help users view porn videos online.
2008:
The MacSweeper malware was introduced. It was embedded in poisoned advertisements that would then infect a Mac with a piece of malware similar to the Antivirus virus that Windows computers often get.
2009:
A trojan horse named OSX/iWorkS-A was spread to users who were downloading pirated versions of the iWork '09 software suite.
2010:
Finally, this year saw the introduction of the OSX/Pinhead or HellRTS virus was spread disguised as iPhoto. The virus would open up a back door to allow a hacker to remotely execute malicious code on the computer.
There are several variants to the viruses released and there may have been a few left out but the history of viruses on the Mac is fairly short. With the introduction of OSX most of the viruses only spread when users executed something they were not entirely familiar with from a source that may have been less than trustworthy. That doesn't mean that threats are not present, there is still a chance a flaw can be exploited and your computer could become infected.
The most threatening aspect of computer worms as a type of malware is that they are self-replicating. Where viruses sometimes need to hook up to a specific type of computer program or be actively controlled by a hacker in order to work, worms are so dangerous because they start cloning themselves pretty much the moment they hit your computer. The goal of worms is twofold: first, they seek to exploit known vulnerabilities in an operating system; second, they seek to spread as far as they can, using computer networks, email attachments, file sharing networks, and any number of other methods to move from one computer system to the next.What Worms Are Used For: An Example
That's not to say that worms are exactly the mindless cancer of the computer world. On the contrary, these malicious programs do send data back to a control server, and they can be controlled to help hackers achieve specific goals. For instance, when a website goes down as part of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, the root cause is often a worm that has infected a large number of machines. The hacker who created the worm is then able to create a botnet army with these compromised computers, and can use them to flood a specific target site with huge amounts of traffic or data, essentially killing the bandwidth of the target and resulting in a denial of service for the site. DDoS attacks are difficult to protect against for website administrators, simply because the attack is coming from so many different sources. All of the machines infected with the worm are essentially part of the attack, making it impossible to block specific IP addresses or even distinguish legitimate traffic from malicious traffic.Worms in History
Worms Vs Birds Mac Os Catalina
One of the most notorious computer worms in history was also one of the first. Written by a graduate student at Cornell University, the worm in question—called the Morris worm—was launched in November 1988, and quickly spread from computer to computer. Like other worms since, the Morris worm operated by exploiting known vulnerabilities in a specific operating system—in this case, Unix. Though originally intended as a harmless technology test, the worm was coded in such a way that it would infect some computer systems more than once, which resulted in computer crashes, denial of service attacks across the Internet, and potentially up to $10 million in damage.Worms Vs Birds Mac Os X
The estimate is that the Morris worm infected about 10% of the computers connected to the Internet at the time. While it's unlikely that a worm could ever have such a far-reaching impact today—thanks to our knowledge of worms and the cyber-security safeguards that are in place on most computers and networks—it's still frightening to think of the kind of a damage that a worm could do if it infected 10% of the Internet in 2015.Worms on Mac OS X
Worms Vs Birds Mac Os 11
Luckily for Mac users, worms still haven't really made their way to OS X. In the past few years, we've seen a huge increase in the number of trojan horses, keyloggers, and other types of malware that can infect machines running Mac OS X. However, a Google search for 'Mac worms' should reveal that there are no major worm infections to worry about on Mac… yet. According to a Wired article published in August 2015, researchers have created 'the first firmware worm that attacks Macs.' What this article essentially proves is that there is nothing about Macs on either a hardware or software level that will prevent worms from infecting OS X computers or spreading from one Mac to the next. A firmware worm hell-bent on attacking Macs could be particularly damaging, since, as the Wired piece notes, fixing the issue would require users to open up their Macs and 'electrically reprogram the chip.'Granted, not all worms would impact a Mac's firmware. Firmware consists of programs or data that are installed to a system's read-only memory (ROM), after which they cannot be removed. Many worms, while dangerous and destructive, do not have this level of permanence. Still, the point is that the potential is there for Macs to be hit with a catastrophic worm attack.So how can you protect yourself from worm infection? Since worms exploit known operating system vulnerabilities, always keeping your Mac fully up-to-date with all updates and security patches should reduce the likelihood of a worm being able to exploit your machine. Beyond updates, just use common sense in using the Internet: don't open emails or attachments from people you don't know or don't trust, don't use public file sharing networks, don't click on links that look spammy, and always run firewall and antivirus software on your system.