Apple recommends security software for Mac owners

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 2 Dec 2008 at 07:59

After years of boasting about the Mac's near invincibility, Apple is now advising its customers to install security software on their computers.

Apple - which has continually played on Windows' vulnerability to viruses in its advertising campaigns - issued the advice in a low-key message on its support forums.

"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 the support message reads.

It goes on to recommend a handful of products to Mac owners, including Intego VirusBarrier X5, Norton Anti-Virus 11 for Macintosh and McAfee VirusScan for Mac.

Apple has continually played down the threat of viruses on the Mac platform. One of the first adverts in its "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" campaign focused entirely on viruses. "Last year there were 114,000 known viruses for PCs," the PC character said in the advert. "PCs, not Macs," the Mac character replied.

Even today, on the Get a Mac FAQ, the company claims: "Mac OS X resists most viruses, so you can do anything - without worrying about losing everything." It does go on to concede that "no computer connected to the internet is 100% immune to viruses and spyware."

Whilst the Mac platform is without doubt a lesser target for virus writers, the company may have been spurred into its security software recommendation by the growing trends towards web exploits that target cross-platform browsers, including Apple's own Safari.

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