Alert Priority High, Apple releases a number of updates for widely used products

If you think that you are not vulnerable to anything these days your off with thr pixies ,these mongrel will do anything for a dollar.no matter if it's windows apple or android.

Not sure about Linux Troopy ,used it once when I tried to upgrade my pc ,didn't really like it all that much as nothing else worked and I wasn't patient enough to play with it. Just done the windows 10 thing and doesn't seem to be too bad although time will tell. I use to get the dreaded blue screen with 8.1 and hoping that goes away ,but I bought a Samsung galaxy tab s which I use now more than the laptop.

Having a Apple for the past 5 years the first was a white mac book and this one is a Mac Book ( Retina) using OSX Yosemite 10.10.4 version.

I have never had a problem with any virus or vulnerabilities and have never had any antivirus put on.

I'am very careful of what i do download and what i'am to update. By say that if I download it i know it safe to open it or update it.

If you are unsure of the update, my advice would checkup on the update by clicking on it and it will tell you about it.

I hope this help you, Cheers reg

It can be a non OS based threat also. Some browsers and browser plugins will have vulnerabilities which need to get plugged regularly.

Ondabeach wrote:

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You're right Troopy, but browser targeted threats aren't apps, they're scripts, which don't have the same potential for harm that OS specific apps do. But the same rules apply... think before click... and use protection.

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 When did viruses and malware become apps? the term app is just a shortened form of the word application. Malicious executables maybe? but scripts can have nasty consequences too.

What is Drive-By-Download

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GeekBuddy says:

A 'drive-by-download' attack is a malware delivery technique that is triggered simply because the user visited a website. Traditionally, malware was only 'activated' as a result of the user proactively opening an infected file (for example, opening an email attachment or double clicking on an executable that had been downloaded from the Internet).

Unfortunately, hackers have become much more sophisticated over recent years and this level of interaction is no longer required. Malware may be served as hidden codes within a website content, served content like banners, advertisements and used as a vehicle for hacking and other cyber-crime. The simple act of visiting a site is enough to get your computer infected or your personal details stolen.

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I'm using a combination of Android, Windows 8.1 and Linux Ubuntu. I've always thought Apple products are for cashed up know nothings, they are very nicely designed, but are a premium price for a system that the user has limited control over. If you don't know much then that is probably ok. The machine I'm writing this on is an old desktop with Linux Ubuntu, it previously ran Windows XP and when that product was no longer supported, the machine was unable to run the later versions of Windows as it is relatively low spec. The advantage of Ubuntu is that viruses and malware are rare and you can give an old low spec machine a new lease on life. I wouldn't recommend to a computer novice, but it installed flawlessly on my old machine with everything working.

Ondabeach wrote:

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Yes, 'apps' is short for applications aka executables, the terms are completely interchangeable... therefore viruses have always been apps, though malicious scripts also get called viruses. My point is that executables/applications/apps/programs, call them what you like, can quite literally do anything to your system, even initiate a format of your hard drive. The level of damage an exe can do can not be matched by a browser based script.

 

Geekbuddy is a security product that it's creators want you to use to generate those all important hits and clicks. That info is misleading because the only way any personal information is going to be stolen by simply visiting a site is if you have your security settings set to off or the minimum possible.

-- Edited by Ondabeach on Thursday 20th of August 2015 12:09:00 PM

-- Edited by Ondabeach on Thursday 20th of August 2015 12:09:28 PM

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 Geez ondabeach, the term application is generally used to describe a useful software program, not a virus. Viruses have been around for yonks and so have anti virus programs to combat them. They have never been called apps or applications in all that time that I know of. The collective group of viruses, rootkits, trojans, key loggers, malicious scripts, browser hijackers and BHO's  etc is generally referred to as Malware.. NOT APPS

Although it is good that you have found out how nasty malware in general can be.

Ondabeach wrote:

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Whether a program is a word processor, a game, an image editor or something with malicious intent such as a virus, it is still a program, or app or application... no difference.

 

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 You win, you can have the last word...

No worries Troopy, as a computer tech and software developer for over 30 years I could bore you to death with the evolution of computing terms :)

In the beginning there were just lines of code, which then became known as programs, because they were a series of tasks for a computer to perform, like an exercise program.

Originally the term 'application' was used correctly, as a verb to describe what job a computer program was 'applied' to. As in 'what application does your program serve?' Back then a virus was still something you saw your doctor about, and he'd tell you to eat an apple... which was still a piece of fruit. 

The first desktop computers weren't called PCs, they were just called 'desktop computers' because the fact that you could fit a computer on your desk was mind boggling. The term 'Personal Computer' hadn't even been thought of because no-one seriously thought the average person could ever afford his own computer... that was a ridiculous idea. Back then computers cost more than houses and only large companies and legal firms could afford them.

When me and the guys saw our first external 5mb hard drive, which weighed about 5kg and was the size of 2 shoeboxes we were blown away with how tiny it was. But we all laughed and joked about how no one could possibly need to store that much data... except maybe the US government. I think it took about 15 years to get to the first 1GB internal drive and a high end PC had maybe 16mb of ram if you were lucky enough to be able to afford it.

Many years later the abbreviation 'app' came into being when teenagers could afford smartphones and were too lazy to wrap their little brains around such a long word as application.

Yep, that's the problem with scripts, they're third tier code so they'll run on any OS because it's the interpreter that runs them, in this case the interpreter is the browser. Even worse are malicious java scripts because they'll run on any browser or OS. And with scripts you don't even need to click on anything, just visit the site. Anyone that surfs the web without up to date protection is crazy... like going to an orgy without a condom