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Apple Warm
One of the big myths of computer science states that the operative system of Mac Os X does not have any kind of virus or malicious applications, so-called “malware”, that are able to take over the computer and put in danger the safety and privacy of the user. In recent years, thanks to the increased number of devices that use this system on the market – especially computers – different types of viruses have been developed that we need to be aware of.
According to W3Counter information from May 2011, Mac Os X is the second most used operating system on the internet, reaching 9.19% of the market. One year before, Mac Os X reached 8.2% of the market. The number of users of the system grows constantly, and it gets more and more popular, which means that the number of viruses and malicious applications will also increase. There has also been a change in the way systems get infected. During the first couple of years of the 2000s, viruses and worms, such as “Melissa” and “I Love You”, left damage on the operative system of Windows around the world.
Some of these recent viruses take advantage of the social engineering in order to fool the user and urge him/her to realize a concrete action, such as download and install a certain application that will resolve an important problem on his/her computer. Due to the feeling of safety the users have when using this operating system, they are surfing and downloading applications less carefully. Because of that and due to the nature of the new types of infection, it’s good to be aware of the fact that it’s necessary to follow some recommendations to increase the safety of our computers, independent from the system that we use, such as taking care of which applications we download or when inserting credit card data, bank accounts or personal data on applications that don’t look very trustworthy.
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