It's not the first version, it's the first free version. We've been using enterprise Sophos on our Macs for years. It picks up all manner malware, viruses, and Word macros, but none that were Mac yet.
Mostly from students bringing in documents from home PCs.
It is without a doubt one of the best antivirus programs on the market. I love it. Very unobtrusive. The only way you know it's running is the little shield in your menu bar, otherwise you wouldn't know it was installed.
Sophos aims free antivirus at Mac malware (images)
by Andy Smith | November 2, 2010 8:38am PDT | Image 1 of 18
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Sophos announces its first free business-strength anti-virus program for Mac users. Senior technology consultant at Sophos Graham Cluely says "a growing number of bad guys out there who might consider Mac users a "soft target" and deliberately set out to infect Apple Macs." Read what ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has to say.
Why free? Maybe it's to discourage Mac malware writers and have them focus their attention on Windows - bread and butter for Sophos.
Screenshots: Sophos
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And what does it catch? Does it look for Windows malware as well?
We're a large school district, so it gets lots of business. Perhaps more than a normal business because we don't have official policy against bring in devices from home (except for laptops.)
It catches malware for any OS. While our district is primarily Macintosh based, we have students and staff with Windows PCs at home. Quite often flash drives are brought in and Sophos will quarantine Windows malware it finds on it. It's even caught a Linux root kit a few times.
The number one offender is Microsoft Word and Excel macro viruses.
It catches malware for any OS. While our district is primarily Macintosh based, we have students and staff with Windows PCs at home. Quite often flash drives are brought in and Sophos will quarantine Windows malware it finds on it. It's even caught a Linux root kit a few times.
The number one offender is Microsoft Word and Excel macro viruses.
@animageofmine1
I have always said that no OS is invulnerable (even when I worked at the Genius Bar) but I did say in the past when it was true that no one was targeting Macs. I use Norton at home and lately the MacPro seems to be slowed down quite a bit when the scans are going on. I may look into this one.
I have always said that no OS is invulnerable (even when I worked at the Genius Bar) but I did say in the past when it was true that no one was targeting Macs. I use Norton at home and lately the MacPro seems to be slowed down quite a bit when the scans are going on. I may look into this one.
@macadam
I second what you are saying. But I have been to an Apple store. this is what i saw (copying from my post below)
"I went to an Apple store to check iPad when it was launched and someone was looking at a Mac desktop. The guy from genious bar asked that person whether she was using Windows. And then he further asked if he had issues of virus on Windows. Further, he promised that there is nothing like Virus on a Mac happy I thought of interrupting that guy and prove him wrong. They just fool the poor customers "
I can't infer anything else from what I saw. I don't hate Apple, in fact I own iPhone4, but I don't like the way Apple does its business.
I second what you are saying. But I have been to an Apple store. this is what i saw (copying from my post below)
"I went to an Apple store to check iPad when it was launched and someone was looking at a Mac desktop. The guy from genious bar asked that person whether she was using Windows. And then he further asked if he had issues of virus on Windows. Further, he promised that there is nothing like Virus on a Mac happy I thought of interrupting that guy and prove him wrong. They just fool the poor customers "
I can't infer anything else from what I saw. I don't hate Apple, in fact I own iPhone4, but I don't like the way Apple does its business.
@macadam Good luck and lots of patient getting rid of Norton files from your HD. Worst piece of crap I ever used.
@animageofmine1
I don't recall anyone ever saying that Macs are invulnerable to a virus. It is simply a numbers game... There are far less Mac boxes around than there are Windows ones, so viruses are typically targeted toward the low hanging fruit.
I don't recall anyone ever saying that Macs are invulnerable to a virus. It is simply a numbers game... There are far less Mac boxes around than there are Windows ones, so viruses are typically targeted toward the low hanging fruit.
@animageofmine1
Name all those viruses you are talking about, OK? So far, nothing developed. This picks up malware and as previous people said, it's all been Windows malware. Nothing on the Mac yet and I don't think you will see viruses. Maybe a trojan horse hear and there but no virii.
Name all those viruses you are talking about, OK? So far, nothing developed. This picks up malware and as previous people said, it's all been Windows malware. Nothing on the Mac yet and I don't think you will see viruses. Maybe a trojan horse hear and there but no virii.
@mlindl : dude, your reply confirms that you are the fanboy. Go search online if you want more information. And read some articles. Here is one of them: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20002317-245.html . If you are lazy enough to read, i can copy the important content from the article:
-------------------------------------------------
And you think Apple is taking it seriously too now?
Maiffret: Oh yeah. It's even a little scarier with them because they try to market themselves as more secure than the PC, that you don't have to worry about viruses, etc. Anytime there's been a hacking contest, within a few hours someone's found a new Apple vulnerability. If they were taking it seriously, they wouldn't claim to be more secure than Microsoft because they are very much not. And the Apple community is pretty ignorant to the risks that are out there as it relates to Apple. The reason we don't see more attacks out there compared to Microsoft is because their market share isn't near what Microsoft's is.
---------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
And you think Apple is taking it seriously too now?
Maiffret: Oh yeah. It's even a little scarier with them because they try to market themselves as more secure than the PC, that you don't have to worry about viruses, etc. Anytime there's been a hacking contest, within a few hours someone's found a new Apple vulnerability. If they were taking it seriously, they wouldn't claim to be more secure than Microsoft because they are very much not. And the Apple community is pretty ignorant to the risks that are out there as it relates to Apple. The reason we don't see more attacks out there compared to Microsoft is because their market share isn't near what Microsoft's is.
---------------------------------------------------
@animageofmine1
Wrong. There are NO OSX viruses, and the link you posted does not refute that. Please name a single one.
You, quite simply, are incompetent, and have no idea what you are talking about.
Wrong. There are NO OSX viruses, and the link you posted does not refute that. Please name a single one.
You, quite simply, are incompetent, and have no idea what you are talking about.
@DeusXMachina Wrong. There are NO OSX viruses, and the link you posted does not refute that. Please name a single one.
And you know there aren't any because of what, exactly? Those who write them didn't bother to tell you about them? Ya know.. if I were to write one for OS X, you'd be exactly the kind of person I would target. And I probably would never mention that it existed.
And you know there aren't any because of what, exactly? Those who write them didn't bother to tell you about them? Ya know.. if I were to write one for OS X, you'd be exactly the kind of person I would target. And I probably would never mention that it existed.
@badgered
"And you know there aren't any because of what, exactly? Those who write them didn't bother to tell you about them?"
Well, let's see. First, the fact that not a SINGLE malware researcher, nor commercial anti-malware company has EVER reported a single OSX virus. Ever.
Second, neither have they, nor anyone else, ever reported any case of viral infection in the wild.
"Ya know.. if I were to write one for OS X, you'd be exactly the kind of person I would target. And I probably would never mention that it existed."
Neither do the writers of most viruses for ANY platform. And yet there are thousands of known viruses. How do you suppose that is? What a stupid comment.
More importantly, I challenge you to attempt such a feat. You may quickly find that writing an actual virus for a BSD kernel presents you with challenges that make this task well nigh impossible.
@mlindl
There is no such word as *virii. The plural of virus is viruses. Period. There is NO Latin plural for virus. Even if there were, it would not be *virii. (Where are you claiming to get that other "i" from, anyway?) Nor would it be viri, which is already a Latin word (the plural of vir, man). And before you bring up the second and third declension variants *vira and *virora, neither of these outlandish creations gets you and closer to a Latin construction. In fact, the word virus, meaning slime or poison, has NO plural construction in Latin, as it is a non-count noun, and as such, exists only in the singular. The modern usage was not even known back when Latin was in common parlance. Thus, to create the plural, one must use the language of construction, in this case English.
The plural of virus is viruses.
"And you know there aren't any because of what, exactly? Those who write them didn't bother to tell you about them?"
Well, let's see. First, the fact that not a SINGLE malware researcher, nor commercial anti-malware company has EVER reported a single OSX virus. Ever.
Second, neither have they, nor anyone else, ever reported any case of viral infection in the wild.
"Ya know.. if I were to write one for OS X, you'd be exactly the kind of person I would target. And I probably would never mention that it existed."
Neither do the writers of most viruses for ANY platform. And yet there are thousands of known viruses. How do you suppose that is? What a stupid comment.
More importantly, I challenge you to attempt such a feat. You may quickly find that writing an actual virus for a BSD kernel presents you with challenges that make this task well nigh impossible.
@mlindl
There is no such word as *virii. The plural of virus is viruses. Period. There is NO Latin plural for virus. Even if there were, it would not be *virii. (Where are you claiming to get that other "i" from, anyway?) Nor would it be viri, which is already a Latin word (the plural of vir, man). And before you bring up the second and third declension variants *vira and *virora, neither of these outlandish creations gets you and closer to a Latin construction. In fact, the word virus, meaning slime or poison, has NO plural construction in Latin, as it is a non-count noun, and as such, exists only in the singular. The modern usage was not even known back when Latin was in common parlance. Thus, to create the plural, one must use the language of construction, in this case English.
The plural of virus is viruses.
The Genius bar at the Apple store is not so smart anymore. Since the first thing that comes out of their mouth is that MACs cannot and will receive a virus.
@Maarek
If that really is what they are saying, then they need to be fired. When I went to Cupertino to train as a Mac Genius we were specifically told not to spread such blatant untruths. We WERE trained to say that no OS is 100% malware proof, but OS X has no known malware written for it outside of lab concepts. At the time that was in fact the case.
If that really is what they are saying, then they need to be fired. When I went to Cupertino to train as a Mac Genius we were specifically told not to spread such blatant untruths. We WERE trained to say that no OS is 100% malware proof, but OS X has no known malware written for it outside of lab concepts. At the time that was in fact the case.
@Maarek ... by providing your Mac user password? If I were doing anything and it asked me that, I'd know right away something was up.
@Maarek : yes, exactly. I went to an Apple store to check iPad when it was launched and someone was looking at a Mac desktop. The guy from genious bar asked that person whether she was using Windows. And then he further asked if he had issues of virus on Windows. Further, he promised that there is nothing like Virus on a Mac 
I thought of interrupting that guy and prove him wrong. They just fool the poor customers
I thought of interrupting that guy and prove him wrong. They just fool the poor customers 
@Maarek That's what I hear them say. Which is totally true.
You asked why it was free. I think the answer is in the EULA you have to agree to. It says you agree that Sophos and their software may remotely communicate with your computer without limitation. It also says that if you implement optional functions, they may accidentally get your confidential information, including information that identifies you individually.
@bproffit
Basic CYA statement. It does mean I won't be using the software, though.
Basic CYA statement. It does mean I won't be using the software, though.
@macadam the clause saying they can remotely communicate with your computer without limitation is definitely not standard. I use Norton AV for Mac, which does not require you to agree to those terms.
@bproffit I think you've got it. Looks like a Demographics Data Harvester. Big $$ on the resale market. I don't own a Mac, please check the Privacy Policy for something like: 'may share customer information with business partners'...(like demographics info companies)
This remains a product which serves no useful purpose. If you're getting a lot of documents that are infected with Windows viruses, you might want to deal with your document source.
It runs faster than Sophos because it only looks for Mac malware. All 116 of them.
http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/
Looking for Windows malware seems to be going overboard.
http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/
Looking for Windows malware seems to be going overboard.
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