are Macs/Apple immune to malwares?

i know the answer is no but when i try to tell people to be safe when they do online banking some of them answer: "not me, i have a Mac".

should Mac user be worried about online banking & malwares (the answer is yes i think) and is there any articles online about this subject?
any statistics? etc...

 

The "not me, I have a mac" users are the less educated users, and are prone to fall victim to social engineering and/or infection.

 

Should mac users be aware? Yes.
Should mac users be worried? Honestly, not really.

 

Didn't we have a similar thread a few months ago?
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=306933

 

Isn't that the same as saying that if they aren't aware, they can never be worried... It's just like Windows, isn't it? If Windows users are aware, they will take all the needed precautions, in theory anyway, but it applies to everything else... But, if they aren't aware, how can they take all the precautions? They can't. They will fall victims. It's logic working here.

Safer does not equal immune users... they are the weakest link.

I know a lot of people that would fall victims regardless of what operating system they're using. If they're made to believe they need to give full access to the system, they will. It doesn't matter whether it's Windows, Mac OS or Linux. They will give it... Why? Because they believe they need to give it. It's that simple.

So, yes... a careful Mac/etc user should be worried. Social engineering doesn't target Windows users only. That's the first mistake they make.

-edit-

If they're careful/aware, then it's because they're worried, right? lol

 

With OSX you don't really need to take those precautions. There's not a huge chance that you'll run into malware for OSX. With Windows it's quite common, there are thousands of malicious files created every day, constantly new variants using new exploits and techniques to get onto the computer.

If you have an unaware user on OSX and an unaware user on Windows the Windows user is far more likely to be infected.

If you have an aware user on OSX and an aware user on Windows the Windows user is still more likely to get infected.

If they're both knowledgeable users who go to wilders daily and learn to lock their computers down... it's a bit of a toss up! OSX is more vulnerable but Windows is more targetted (by far.)

Social engineering doesn't target Windows only, that's certainly true. But it targets it a hell of a lot more.

Security through Obscurity's kinda BS but it can work.

And to clarify I think being aware/worried are different things. Aware that the threats are out there but not worried that you'll be effected.

 

Back when those Mac vs PC commercial used to run when Vista came out I knew a few people that bought one thinking it was just a better computer that couldn't get a virus. Then they found out that it wouldn't run any of their software and they would have to virtualize Windows to be able to do what they wanted to do. At this point most of them are back on a Windows machine. The holdouts were the Steve Jobs fans that are now starting to come back to Windows now that he is gone. For the next couple of years it will be interesting to see how many people continue to use them. And with the talk of them dropping the Mac Pro they may as well just put all of their efforts into being a gadget company. As long as they can sell iPods, iPads, and iPhones that is where their money is.

 

Well, there's a difference between one (Windows) being most targeted, which makes sense, considering the market share, and people using another O.S being immune to social engineering.

Imagine X Windows user. This X Windows user is constantly falling for the social engineering tricks. Is this X Windows user going to become more secure against a social engineering attack on any other O.S? No. Less probable to face one? Most likely. But, don't confuse being more secure against social engineering attacks with probably not facing many. The bigger the market share, a different situation will happen, but that's another story...

As I said, I know a few who would fall for social engineering, regardless of the operating system. The O.S is not the issue with social engineering; the user is.

But, that's more than understandable, isn't it? It's more than expected. But, let's imagine for a second that it was the other way around. Mac OS had a bigger market share... You'd be saying the opposite. But, the same wouldn't mean that Windows (with less market share) users wouldn't fall victims either; most just wouldn't, probably, face any. That's where the difference lies.

As I previously mentioned, it make sense it happens that way.

Yes, they are different things, but they are associated. I cannot be worried about cancer, if I'm not aware it exists. Or, can I be?

 

Of course the OS is an issue. Socially engineered malware does not run on OSX if it's built for Windows.

Of course, that's all I've been saying. Windows is targetted more than OSX.

I don't understand what you're saying haha "Yes, it makes sense that it's attacked more" but somehow that makes it ok?

Cancer doesn't go around actively targetting people =p I see your point but all I'm saying is that if you have 100 average OSX users and 100 average Windows users your Windows users will get more infections and your OSX users either won't get infected ta all or will have very few.

Like you said, it's market share, it's simple numbers in this case. But effectively OSX has less to worry about - for now.

 

Windows are, by far, targeted...