AV-Test: 10 Mac OS X security packages put to the test

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by SweX, Apr 29, 2015.

  1. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    http://www.av-test.org/en/news/news...-attack-10-security-packages-put-to-the-test/

    From September last year.
    http://www.av-test.org/en/news/news...osshairs-18-malware-scanners-put-to-the-test/
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2015
  2. Blueshoes

    Blueshoes Registered Member

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    We also have some new OS X security tools from this developer/malware researcher. He also states in on of his videos from a security con, OS X is less secure then Windows. I also get the feeling as I have from many corporate pentester and grayhats, OS X still is swiss cheese to a good hacker. And yes, OS X has been safer so far because it really has been enjoying "Security through obscurity"


    http://www.rsaconference.com/speakers/patrick-wardle

    https://objective-see.com/index.html


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhhvZnA4VNY Last 5 mins states Windows is more secure then OS X.

    The Mac zealots just can't handle that their prize OS X is not really very secure. You tell them and they lamb bast you. Yet they are the clueless ones.



    http://www.businessinsider.com/patrick-wardle-and-exposing-mac-malware-2015-4

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    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2015
  3. funkymonkeyboy

    funkymonkeyboy Registered Member

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  4. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    Na, my iMac is too old for a real-time monitor. Also, it's pretty much unnecessary when I barely install or execute anything.
     
  5. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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  6. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    Like UNIX, Mac operates on the principle of least privilege. Before malware can install, it needs the user to grant permission to run.

    That's why relatively little malware has been written for OSX.
     
  7. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Windows 8/8.1 are the same. You need to grant admin privilege to run an App. For mac, the security holes are just as many as, if not more than, Windows 8/8.1.
     
  8. Blueshoes

    Blueshoes Registered Member

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    OS X has 1/3 more code then Windows, all hardly vetted by pro malware writers.

    The Adware that is being installed all over can very well be replaced with keyloggers and RATS. With minimal AV in use on Macs.


    Listen to Patrick Wardle, malware researcher who work for NASA and NSA. Here is a youtube link for the last 2 minutes or so, START it at 42:25, then start it back up from the beginning and listen to the whole 44 mins.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhhvZnA4VNY




    Here is my theory.

    OS X is their platform of choice as stated above and they don't want to muck it up, Could be there is very little malware as a whole. The security community and almost every AV company and 1/4 of malware researchers will pounce on Mac malware ASAP and quench the OS X malware within a couple of days. SO the hackers "work hours for monetary gain" ratio is dismal. Lack of the “fog of war” is keeping OS X safe.

    Here is another analogy, here is the playing field.........


    You have every western block Special OPs teams = (AV companies and malware researchers) waiting with full western block air support = AV definitions push.

    There is almost zero "haze of war" to muck up the battle field = OS X malware being pushed on the internet as a whole.

    PC malware playing field includes all of Africa and the Middle East in full blown chaos and war. More then we see now for this analogy. You have hundreds of thousands of small enemy teams hitting city police stations all over Mid East and Africa= PC malware. They are all calling for help. Too many for the good guys to do much about = overwhelmed.

    A couple of bad guys in Israel hit a city police station that is guarded by police with pistols. = Mac malware and the lack of bad chaos happening in a guarded small area. The Special Ops teams are called in with full air support quench the bad guys within hours. = Mac AV and malware researchers Totally crushing them!!!! = The state of the Mac platform today.

    You would be an insane fool to waste your time of weeks or months of work to get CRUSHED in hours to days.

    UNLESS all the bad guys attacked in a full coordinated attack all over the continent = internet to muck up and "overwhelm" with the "fog of war". Otherwise writing mac malware seems to be futile for now as a one or three off malware attack. Most of the bad malware writer groups would need to start writing Mac malware and execute it in website dropper sites with bypass zero days. The weakness (vuls) is there in OS X and there are plenty of rootkits and zero days as Patrick Waldle and others have said. People that always say it is all “FUD” are just not in the “know”

    This in NO MEANS "means" OS X is highly secure. It means "security through obscurity or better yet "security through situational evolution" ~OT comment removed~

    The question is the speed of malware writers ans the "elevation" on a linear scale and when it turns into a progressive scale for OS X. OS X will hit that progressive scale. Unless it turns into an minimal coded, minimal "rights" OS like iOS and Chrome OS That would be a sad day though.


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    Last edited by a moderator: May 22, 2015
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