Apple Snow Leopard Anti Malware and Firefox Malware
Apple Snow Leopard has yet to be released. Apple is constantly adding new features to the product for the upcoming release date. Security researchers at the Mac antivirus firm Intego made an interesting discovery in the latest beta build. Researchers found that the Apple had stealthy included a new anti malware technology. The security feature will detect if a virus or Trojan is opened and prompt the user to move the suspicious file to the trash bin. However, this protection is not a full blown antivirus. The anti-malware feature doesn't have the ability to scan an entire a system for viruses and the protection ability is pretty limited. In fact, the protection can only detect viruses on a handle of applications like Safari, Firefox, Entourage, IChat, and a select few Apple applications. The anti-malware system works by consulting a list of known malware saved in the Apple system directory. As of today, there are only two Mac Trojans that are listed on the latest list. While many will appreciate the inclusion of pseudo antivirus protection into apple snow leopard, many Mac power users are indifferent to the new technology. This argument is augmented by the fact that Apple advertises their computers to not be as viruses prone as PC's because of the operating system's superior architecture. I think evidence points to a counter argument. But as always its best that you be the judge on this contentious topic.
Firefox is well known as one of the most secure browsers. The Firefox model is similar to the Apple security model in which these products operate on the security through obscurity concept. Essentially, the software is more secure because less users use Firefox than lets say Internet Explorer. However, these concepts don't last for long, especially when the software is quickly rising in popularity. In fact, older Firefox versions have become one of the most tasty targets for hackers to attack. In fact, Firefox was used in forty six percent of attackers exploits. This percentage far outweighs the differences in market share between Internet Explorer and Firefox. The latest attack poses as an update for Adobe Flash. In fact, the add-on does nothing near as mentioned in the name. Instead, the user essentially gets a Trojan that operates in Firefox. The Trojan will insert additional ads into Google Search results and implements user behavior tracking methods. The most disturbing of the privacy invasions is that the software records all of the users search queries. The search queries are then sent off to a remote site and recorded. This attack also brings up another vulnerability in the Firefox Browser. Add-ons aren't signed like Internet Explorer active X products. So its difficult to know if the addon is legitimate so always download all on add-ons from mozilla.com. Also upgrade to the latest version of Firefox which is 3.5. Also get our antivirus toolbar here to add additional protection to Firefox.