A very good day to you all!
While it is getting chillier down here at the end of the world,
all around me colleagues, friends, and coworkers are straining from
an increased viral load. No, I am not referring to hepatitis,
influenza or herpes. I am, of course, talking about
computer-viruses, worms, Trojan horses, etc. (as this is
lowendmac.com, and if anybody thinks this might be the New England
Journal of Medicine you are certainly on the wrong website. And no,
we don't have any Jenna Jameson pictures either).
As a Mac user, I have never really taken any notice of PC-borne
viruses, as they just don't concern me, but recently my inbox has
been flooded with emails from people unknown to me, asking me to
have a look at their girlfriend or just to open the attachments
(something very sneaky, isn't it?).
Now, I normally don't get asked to look at peoples girlfriends,
and even if I would be asked, I would divert my eyes in shame,
having the best ever girlfriend myself, so emails like that make me
obviously suspicious. A recent
feature on Slashdot deepened my suspicion: The
Internet is utterly awash with infectious little binary packages
created by big boys with small egos who are desperate for
recognition.
I made a conscientious decision to run OS X and OpenBSD
behind an OpenBSD firewall. In other words, it doesn't get much
safer then that (apart from switching off my modem and hiding my
computer under the bed). This means for me freedom of worry from
most port-based attacks, freedom of worries from Windows email
viruses/worms
The only question is: Does anybody know about any OS X
viruses?
A quick Google check did not reveal any sources of concern, but
let's be honest: Somewhere out there a kid with a grudge must be
sitting in front of his dad's Cube, programming a quick and dirty
OS X pathogen. My question to the community out there: Do you
guys know about any threats that might be looming, or do you know
about any loopholes in our defense from unwanted visitors? I would
love to hear from you and feature any input in the next column.
Until then, protect your computers and stay away from Wintel
machines - you might just catch a cold.
