What About Other Operating Systems?

“But what about Macs?” You ask. “I've heard that Macs don't get viruses.”

That's both true and false. The bad news is that there are viruses that target Macs as well as the software designed to run on them. The good news is that there aren't enough of those viruses to worry about. Not yet, anyway.

Malware

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting at your computer comparing sales figures from before and after a recent marketing campaign. Your favorite station is on the radio, but they're playing that awful song from whats-her-name. You know the one I mean. So you reach over to change the channel and...CRASH!

“FBI! On the ground! On the ground!”

Your front door is in splinters, there's a man in black wearing body armor and a ski mask, pointing a shotgun at your face.

“On the ground now!”

Shortly, you're in a small, but very well lit conference room trying to answer questions about child pornography, lists of credit card numbers, and millions of SPAM email messages all originating on your home office computer. You didn't put them there. You have no idea where they came from, and to tell the complete truth, you're having trouble believing any of it. The chances are good that within a few days it will all be cleared up. You'll be free to go with your official record clear and your conscience clean. Your reputation, however, will never be the same, and you will probably never get your computer back.

You have become the victim of a computer worm that turned your computer into a porn and fraud clearinghouse, and the first warning you ever heard was the battering ram on your door.