Should I Be Worried? - Page 2

dmaul1114 · 04-16-2010, 02:28 AM

But again, not body has said anything is totally secure. Just that there's less risk than on PCs as there are fewer viruses and malware targeting Apple products out there.

In short, no one has said never!

Elvira · 04-17-2010, 11:07 AM

i'm not well-versed in the technicalities, but none of my Apple devices have ever been effected by viruses... and others have reported the same.. so it could be ok....

AMacD · 04-18-2010, 11:24 AM

I was curious about this as well on my MacBook. We have two of them and one has a virus scanner and it has NEVER detected any bad programs in the several years it has been on there. I get lots of out of date virus warnings from my Windows using friends, but none from my Mac or Linux users. You are probably more at risk of a 747 falling out of the sky and hitting you or being struck by lightening than getting a virus on a Mac computer.

johnnaryry · 04-19-2010, 03:45 PM

Also, the singletasking nature of the iPhone OS is, in itself, a type of antivirus security. Remember: a virus is an application. If the OS can only run one app at a time, you will always know what is running on your device.

scottjl · 04-19-2010, 04:05 PM

well that the iphone/touch/ipad can only run one application at a time is misleading. apple only allows the user to run one foreground application at a time. the OS itself is a unix-based OS and it actually is running several things constantly in the background, including mail checking, cleanup tasks, phone support, SMS support, and more system-related things. any smart virus is going to insert itself as a background task (known as a daemon process in unix speak) and not require the user to launch it from an icon to cause damage.

the advantage the iDevice OS has over other computers is that it is a very limited operating system. it doesn't run with open "ports" that allow most viruses to connect to it over a network and break in. also, since it is running unix it has a good set of access controls built in, a virus type application would have to have superuser (root) privilege access to be able to do anything it wants. getting this elevated access on a non-jailbroken phone is pretty much impossible at this point, which is why we haven't seen any viruses for the iDevices. there have been some security holes discovered in the past (one involved a buffer overflow in the SMS application) but Apple has moved quickly to patch them and will probably continue to do so.

from a security standpoint the iDevice OS is somewhat decent. not having flash on there helps too.

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04-16-2010, 02:28 AM	#16
dmaul1114 Wizard Posts: 2,300 Karma: 1121709 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Amazon Kindle 1	But again, not body has said anything is totally secure. Just that there's less risk than on PCs as there are fewer viruses and malware targeting Apple products out there. In short, no one has said never!

04-17-2010, 11:07 AM	#17
Elvira Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 462 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle	i'm not well-versed in the technicalities, but none of my Apple devices have ever been effected by viruses... and others have reported the same.. so it could be ok....

04-18-2010, 11:24 AM	#18
AMacD Al Posts: 66 Karma: 140 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bardstown, KY as home base, but RV following the seasons. Device: Kindle1 and Kindle2 and Palm T\|X	I was curious about this as well on my MacBook. We have two of them and one has a virus scanner and it has NEVER detected any bad programs in the several years it has been on there. I get lots of out of date virus warnings from my Windows using friends, but none from my Mac or Linux users. You are probably more at risk of a 747 falling out of the sky and hitting you or being struck by lightening than getting a virus on a Mac computer.

04-19-2010, 03:45 PM	#19
johnnaryry Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 194 Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Lexington KY, USA Device: 64GB Apple iPad 3 WiFi, 32GB Apple iPhone 4S	Also, the singletasking nature of the iPhone OS is, in itself, a type of antivirus security. Remember: a virus is an application. If the OS can only run one app at a time, you will always know what is running on your device.

04-19-2010, 04:05 PM	#20
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	well that the iphone/touch/ipad can only run one application at a time is misleading. apple only allows the user to run one foreground application at a time. the OS itself is a unix-based OS and it actually is running several things constantly in the background, including mail checking, cleanup tasks, phone support, SMS support, and more system-related things. any smart virus is going to insert itself as a background task (known as a daemon process in unix speak) and not require the user to launch it from an icon to cause damage. the advantage the iDevice OS has over other computers is that it is a very limited operating system. it doesn't run with open "ports" that allow most viruses to connect to it over a network and break in. also, since it is running unix it has a good set of access controls built in, a virus type application would have to have superuser (root) privilege access to be able to do anything it wants. getting this elevated access on a non-jailbroken phone is pretty much impossible at this point, which is why we haven't seen any viruses for the iDevices. there have been some security holes discovered in the past (one involved a buffer overflow in the SMS application) but Apple has moved quickly to patch them and will probably continue to do so. from a security standpoint the iDevice OS is somewhat decent. not having flash on there helps too.

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