The Channel Wire

December 03, 2008

Yesterday it was reported that Apple was urging Mac users to update their antivirus protection in order to keep the growing threat of malicious code from infecting their machines. Today, Apple has removed that notice from its Apple Support Web page and is denying the reports that Mac computers and laptops are becoming more prone to viruses from the Web.

Bill Evans, an Apple spokesman, told Mac World that the article was outdated. "We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate," Evans is quoted as saying. "The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box."

The initial reports created a flurry of debate on the Web because of Apple's high-profile advertising campaign assuring users that Mac products are safer from the threat of viruses and malware than PCs and Windows-based machines.

Turns out the message on the Apple Support forum was old and wasn't, in fact, suggesting that users download antivirus support for their machines -- even though the message advocated three specific utilities that customers should download to protect their machine.

The note was originally published last year and was updated in the past month. The question has to be asked, though, that if the note was old, inaccurate and out of date, why didn't Apple update the forum or remove the message before it garnered the media attention and customer concern yesterday?

For the most part people who write malicious code have stayed away from unraveling the intricacies of Apple's operating system while specifically looking for flaws in the code because the vast majority of computers are currently Windows-based machines. So, essentially, it hasn't been worth the time of hackers and virus authors to go after the Apple market when the Windows market share remains prominent and ripe for the picking.

But Evans wouldn't back off completely, acknowledging the fact that Apple users should still probably seek some kind of antivirus support for their machines.

"Since no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat, running antivirus software may offer additional protection," said Evans.