Malware attack targeting Facebook users affects 10,000 victims in 2 days

[marco]

you have misread or misinterpreted the post Rob...the bottom line is the macs are far far less susceptible to Viruses and if you have the most recent OS the recommendation is that you do not need to install a virus...

[Rob]

Marco,

Believe what you want. You are entitled. But did you read the article you linked? Please do not mislead people.

In the PCAdvisor article that you linked, the actual bottom lines are:

"Do Macs need antivirus: the verdict

I'd say that if you are using your Mac at home, mostly for non business purposes, you can close this article and continue to operate without security software. Yes, it is a risk. But using the internet is a risk, and in my considered view running a Mac without AV is a worthwhile calculated risk.

There are exceptions, however. If you are running a business with a fleet of Macs, or a network of both Macs and Windows PCs, I'd suggest getting in some protection. It's a belt and braces approach that may not be necessary, but if you have a lot to lose it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

You may also consider using antivirus on your Mac if for some reason you could be targeted individually - if you have access to sensitive or high-value data, for instance. If you do choose to buy antivirus for your Mac, take a look at the reviews roundup put together by our colleagues on Macworld: Best Mac antivirus software."

So, the author of the article states it is a "worthwhile calculated risk" if you have nothing of importance to lose. But how many of us who use a computer of any kind have nothing of importance to lose on that machine?

And Macs are less likely to be targets of viruses, because virus programmers go after the most attractive market to attack. Macs currently have a worldwide market of 4.95% of all desktop/laptop computers. Windows has a market share of 88.43%. If a virus programmer infected ALL of the Macs worldwide, they would infect less than 5% of all desktop/laptops.

Macs are currently far, far less susceptible to viruses because there are far, far less of them for virus programmers to attack. But even this does not make them immune. The author points this out by stating "the Mac market share in wealthy western countries is around 20-30 percent. When you consider that Macs are expensive, and so their owners tend to be wealthier than the average PC users, they start to look like an attractive target. I'm not scare-mongering - the threat is not there in any significant scale. But someday it could be, and that may make AV (antivirus) a worthwhile investment."

And if Macs dont need antivirus software, why does MacWorld have reviews for the "best" Mac antivirus software?

The true bottom line is no computer operating system is immune, and if you have something to lose, protect it as best as possible.

This is getting tiresome and completely off topic.

Marco, this is not some battle for anyone to win, but should be a thread to help people with the problem that was discovered that they can fix with an upgrade to Chrome. Please stop with the "my OS is better than yours" nonsense.

[marco]

I agree Rob....but it seems that you just have to have the last word......

[Rob]

The point of the original post was to help our viewers. The FB malware attacked the computer by use of a Chrome extension. Any computer (not an Android or iOS - both phones and tablets) running Chrome was vulnerable because Chrome gave it permission to install the malware extension. That includes Windows, Macs and Linux based machines as well.

Chrome was chosen as it is one of the most popular browsers in the world and is running on many millions of machines, mainly on Windows. Google has now released a Chrome update. Please install it asap if you use Chrome.

To find the update, click on the "hamburger" menu on the far right of the Chrome address bar line (all the way to right, the three lines on top of each other) and choose Help. Then select "About Google Chrome" and it should let you know if an update is available. If it is, UPDATE it! The Chrome browser will ask you to relaunch it when it is done. That's it.

FB also did an internal update to prevent this same exploit from happening again. But that is only for this particular exploit.

There will be others in the future, of that you can be sure. That is the nature of hacking/malware/scams on the Internet today, as it has been since computers were first connected by the use of phones. It was true back when I was first "online" in 1977 in high school. Man, did we get into trouble back then... (grin)

[marco]

I rest my case

and just to put things in perspective..this is all I originally wrote:"one more reason to go Mac"

[Tim]

Marco, seems to me you need to have the last word. Just saying.

[Summer]

macs are not immune if you are using the Chrome browser...

Thank you Rob for stating this.

[Summer]

Marco, seems to me you need to have the last word. Just saying.

seems that way to me too...lol

[Accompong]

Thank you Rob for stating this.

Ditto that thank you here. Just upgraded and tightened my security settings.

seems that way to me too...lol

Three...