Apple Security Center Isn't!!
In a recent post, I discussed the Mac Defender "bug" going around. As of this past week, another version of it has come out with the name "Apple Security Center", and it looks like this:
=====================================================================================
If you see this screen, don't panic and don't click on anything! Simply close your browser and reopen it. If you have security software on your Mac (and by now you should), scan the Mac for bugs. It will remove whatever it finds (if anything).
Over time, the name will change again, so if you see anything at all like the screenshot above, follow the instructions I've listed above.
=====================================================================================
If you see this screen, don't panic and don't click on anything! Simply close your browser and reopen it. If you have security software on your Mac (and by now you should), scan the Mac for bugs. It will remove whatever it finds (if anything).
Over time, the name will change again, so if you see anything at all like the screenshot above, follow the instructions I've listed above.
Posted by Sid Plait at 5/14/2011 11:02 AM 
Categories: Malware, Cybercriminals, Macintosh, All, Internet, PC Security, Computers, Identity Theft, Networking, Apple, Technology, Bad News!
Tags: Apple Security Center Mac Defender MacDefender Apple virus Apple viruses Apple malware trojans Trojan Horse virus Apple security
Categories: Malware, Cybercriminals, Macintosh, All, Internet, PC Security, Computers, Identity Theft, Networking, Apple, Technology, Bad News!
Tags: Apple Security Center Mac Defender MacDefender Apple virus Apple viruses Apple malware trojans Trojan Horse virus Apple security
I am glad that, at last, in your recent posts, you've been warning Mac users out their complacency over security issues; I've seen one retailer (Argos), here in the U.K., stating in their catalogue that one of the "Four reasons you'll love a Mac" is that "It doesn't get PC viruses" because "Macs aren't susceptible to the thousands of viruses plaguing Windows-based computers. Macs keep you safe without any work on your part." (My underlining.)
Yeah, right(!)... that may have been so in the past, but now that Microsoft has virtually tightened up the security holes in the Windows OS, and also the fact that there are a multitude of third-party anti-virus and anti-malware software for Windows, which are making things difficult for the writers of malicious software, the bad-ass guys out there are now looking for easier secondary targets -- so this is certainly no bloody time for Mac users to be complacent!
Furthermore, as reported earlier today (19 May 2011) in this BBC News article, "Fake security software catches out Apple owners", Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said:
Indeed!
Reply to this
Actually, they (Argos) didn't lie, exactly. Sort of. Maybe. Not.
They told a partial truth.
Macs are NOT susceptible to Windows-based viruses because they won't run on a Mac. However, there have ALWAYS been minor attacks on the Mac OS, at least since 1988 - they were just few and far between. A total misstatement is, "Macs keep you safe without any work on your part". Apple had nothing to do with keeping us safe. Apple PCs just weren't under much of an attack.
Sheesh! You don't have to lie to sell Macs. There's plenty of truth out there that will sell them. However, I have to admit, this current movement toward the Mac is mostly based on the popularity of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. It's fascinating to me that Apple had to invent other outstanding, popular products before the general public stopped listening to those with no knowledge of the Mac OS's benefits to the everyday user and started looking for themselves. (Now THERE's a sentence that's hard to read! I just don't know how to make it read better.)
The naysayers have always appealed to emotion laced with intentionally misleading information (sort of like Argos is doing for the opposite reason) to turn people against Apple (and they are still doing it).
There was a headline story the other day about Apple intentionally telling their technical support phone reps to avoid discussing the Mac Defender and Apple Security Center pop-ups and bugs with their callers. Many of the comments were about how wrong Apple is and "I told you they were trash!" Amazing. So I posted this:
Needless to say, I was a bit ticked off. The rhetoric has been heavy for years, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Mac haters said, "Mac files aren't compatible with PC files". They were referring to files created under Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), and they were dead wrong.
That's a post for another day.
Reply to this
Yo Sid,
Firstly, I never said that Argos was selling pork pies (telling lies) with the Mac; I was just implying that Argos was exaggerating the alleged immunity of Macs to viruses in general.
Secondly, I have nothing against Macs per se. In fact, at the end of the '90s, I had seriously considered buying the iMac G3 , which I thought was a very stylish computer -- unlike those bloody boring, boxy, grey Windows-based jobs back then -- but I was put off because the software that I had wanted to run required the Windows 95/98 OS. Eventually, by autumn of 2000, I ended up settling for a cheap, entry-level Windows 98-based computer with an AMD K6-2, 500 MHz processor, rather than one with the more expensive Pentium II, while I waited to see how computers with the Pentium III processor, and then later with the Pentium IV, had developed before deciding to buy a top-of-the-range computer.
Thirdly, IMHO, for those individuals who want a computer but would not know a microchip from a potato chip, they would be better off with a Mac, because then they would get first-class customer care from trained staff at Apple stores to help them get the best out of their Mac computers. However, if you're computer savvy, like me, then you would probably be better off with a Windows-based computer, because you can have some fun 'getting under the hood' of your machine -- upgrading, overclocking, modding, etc. -- or even build one yourself from scratch!
Finally, regarding the iPhone, I am seriously considering to purchase one -- which I think is great -- and I already have the "iPhone Configuration Utility" application on my Windows XP-based machine; however, according to the MacRumors website, the current advice is: "Don't Buy -- Updates soon".
P.S. The underline ("<u>";"</u>") HTML tags don't work on your blog.
Reply to this