Symantec, a company that produces anti-virus software for the Mac, recently caused a stir in the community by releasing a report which suggests that a wave of viruses is headed for the Mac:

Out of the public eye for some time, it is now clear that the Mac OS is increasingly becoming a target for the malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft and various Unix-based operating systems. … Apple Computer has become a target for new attacks… The appearance of a rootkit109 called Opener in October 2004 serves to illustrate the growth in vulnerability research on the OS X platform…

Many have criticized this announcement, noting that since Symantec sells anti-virus software and that a virus scare would increase their business, the warning could easily be seen as self-serving.

Indeed, Symantec’s evidence is weak: the very first attack on OS X recently appeared, six months ago, in the form of the “rootkit” called “Opener.” However, “Opener” is not a virus or a worm, and actually requires someone to allow root access via a password on the system before it can even be a threat–and even then, the threat is localized to a single user. In addition, the rootkit cannot propagate itself. It hardly even qualifies as a threat at all, and so far as I can find, only one user has reported suffering from it; subsequent worry has been about the rootkit’s potential, and in the six months following the first report, I have heard of no subsequent attacks.

So essentially, there’s no evidence that a wave of Mac viruses is headed for your computer. Not that it’s impossible, mind you–Mac OS X is very strong, but not completely impenetrable. It is assumed that at some point, a virus will break through. But it is also acknowledged that cracking OS X with any kind of substantial virus or worm is extraordinarily difficult. One Mac advocate believes this to the point that he actually offered $25,000 (reportedly doubled to $50,000) to anyone who could infect a pair of Mac G5s running without a firewall or anti-virus software. He closed down the contest after strong disapproval from the Mac community, as well as the legal issues–paying for someone to create viruses could be construed as a federal crime.

Certainly, the Mac OS is very strong. It was built from the ground up to be secure, whereas Windows is a virtual sieve of security holes. Mac browsers and email software do not have the virtually unlimited access to system resources that Microsoft’s browser and email apps have. Mac OS X requires a password to be typed in whenever the system is altered; not so in Windows. And systems that are most vulnerable are turned off by default in OS X, requiring a user who knows a little about what they’re doing to start them up–and a great majority of users will never need those services anyway. This article claims that the greatest threat to a Mac would be a Trojan-horse app could break Mac OS X–and such an app would be instantly outed, meaning the outbreak would be minimal at best.

Some say that the only reason that Mac OS X has remained virus-free is because of its small market share; a virus author wants to affect the largest number of people, so the Mac just isn’t on the radar. And while this makes some sense, it does not make complete sense. There are more than enough Mac and UNIX users out there so that someone should have had a strong interest by now. But even more convincing is the fact the reported invulnerability of OS X would be like an “attractive nuisance,” a challenge for hackers to test their skills; there would certainly be a great deal of props given in hacker circles to the first person to take down the OS. But in four years, no one has done this. Which begs the question, why not? Certainly at least one hacker should have taken the time to do this by now.

Again, this is not to say it can’t be done–but there is a huge difference between potential and reality. Windows users must face 60,000-plus menaces to their OS that are out there (I receive a steady stream of Windows viruses in junk emails), while Mac users still do not have any palpable threats to their security. And when a real Mac virus does appear, there will be so much coverage that it will be almost impossible to miss it. Still, it is a good idea to protect your system as much as possible. But the worry is far, far less.