Author: Sean Michael Kerner
Apple Macs have long had a reputation for being free of the viruses and malware that often plagues Windows.
But even Apple is now admitting that its customers could benefit from protection from security threats. The company began recommending that users of its Mac operating system to consider using antivirus software in a message on a company support page.
"Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus-writing process more difficult," Apple wrote on its support page.
The note also identifies different vendors with antivirus products available for Macs.
The recommendation from Apple challenges conventional wisdom surrounding Mac OS that it is safer and perhaps immune from virus activities - a belief supported by the fact that virus attacks on Macs over the years have been almost non-existent.
Still, the threat may be growing as Apple's prominence and market share soar. Symantec, which is one of the antivirus vendors recommended by Apple's support page, has now identified what it claims to be a Mac OS X Trojan Kit. According to Symantec, OSX.Lamzev.A is a Trojan horse that opens a back door on the compromised computer.
The Lamzev.A trojan joins a short list of malware and proof-of-concepts found for the Mac. In 2007, researchers reported the OSX/Pupe Trojan that acted as a malicious DNS changer. At the time, antivirus vendor McAfee said that most Mac customers don't run antivirus software because they are under the impression there are no viruses for the Mac.
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