My Apple computer can't be infected by viruses, right? RIGHT?!

Well, unfortunately this isn't true. For YEARS people who are fanatics of the Apple operating system Macintosh, or "Mac", (I lovingly refer to them as Mac-heads) have toted that their system is impervious to viruses (or virii, depending on your source of English). Well, while not impervious to them they have NOT been the target of viruses, spyware and other malware for quite some time. A lot of this could be attributed to the fact that MOST virus writers at the beginning were using the Windows OS to begin with... And many of them weren't writing them themselves but using "virus creation lab" software created by people who knew what they were doing. Most of those viruses are easily bypassed by antivirus (AV) software because they tag all creations with their own signature to note that they were written with that particular lab.

As for spyware, only a fool would believe that the Mac OS was EVER immune to spyware. Spyware by definition includes many things that are NOT programmatic in nature (such as cookie entries that ad companies use to track where you have been and where you are at and tailor the ads on the current page based on your previous visitation). This by all means should NOT be considered a bad thing. People embrace AdSense by Google simply because Google created it... It's no different, but does this on a single page instance instead of a series of instances.

On an additional note to address the security of the Mac OS, an interesting read:

Mac Hacked In 2 Minutes (Ok, much longer to discover but 2 minutes to impliment)

Same story, different source

And the coup-de-grace, the event that it occured at, PWN 2 OWN

So, now that the humor has been shared everyone can rejoice that we are all as vulnerable as the other!

Remember, we should never assume that we are fully protected. The only way your system is 100% secure is if you aren't on the internet and keep it locked in a room with the power off. Pointless? I'd say so. So stop worrying and just remember to keep your auto-updates on and flowing and don't encourage panic.

Take Care.