Snow Leopard contains new anti-malware feature
updated 09:15 pm EDT, Tue August 25, 2009
Snow Leopard antivirus
The upcoming Snow Leopard update reportedly contains new anti-malware functionality, according to the Mac security company Intego. A number of beta testers have noticed a new warning screen that alerts users to malicious code. A leaked screenshot shows an alert dialog for an RSPlug Trojan contained in a disk image downloaded through Safari.
It is unclear if the OS X antivirus components scan just the downloads or full range of content on the system. Safari shows a similar warning dialog, although it provides a general warning instead of a specific reference to a particular threat.
Apple's Get a Mac ads have criticized the Windows platform as more prone to viruses or spyware. A number of security analysts have suggested Mac OS X continues to face more threats as the operating system grows in popularity and becomes a higher-priority target for hackers.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2000
finally
While I've never been particularly concerned about malware on the Mac, it's nice to see that Apple isn't ignoring the existence of the few threats that are out there in remote corners of cyberspace (generally where one shouldn't be in the first place).
Hopefully, there's more intelligence to this mechanism than just identifying the handful of proof-of-concept trojans that are known to exist.