PCWorld - BizFeed: Macs and Malware: The Straight Dope

By Neil McAllister
December 04, 2008

Earlier this week, Washington Post blogger Brian Krebs stunned the computing world with the revelation that Apple had quietly been recommending anti-virus software for users of Mac OS X. This news flew in the face of popular wisdom (and Apple advertising), which holds that only Windows users need fear malware and other online attacks. But the shock didn't last long. Apple quickly went into spin-control mode, claiming that the online Knowledge Base article in question was out of date and that Macs were indeed perfectly safe out of the box.

Apple enthusiasts breathed a sigh of relief, while detractors grumbled various opinions, the gist of which amounted to "pride goeth before a fall." So who's right? Is Mac OS X the impenetrable fortress that Apple makes it out to be, or is it really a lurking malware death trap?

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