As a general rule I don’t cut and paste anything. When I do, it will be explicitly cited as such.
First, I have used Apple products dating back to the Apple IIc when I was all of about six years old. I still use them on occasion, though as I have said repeatedly over the years my main machines are Linux and Windows.
Second, the Sophos software is free. They are not trying to sell you anything. In their own words they’re trying to increase brand awareness.
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2010/11/12/free-mac-anti-virus-we-just-cant-win/
Lastly, there is zero indication that the Sophos software in any way allows malware in that otherwise wouldn’t be. That would make the Sophos software malware itself. You’re making claims that Sophos disables built-in protection to expose the machine to malware and there is no evidence of that that I can find. I am willing to listen if you can provide any real evidence of this (and I’m sure the competitors of Sophos are as well).
http://www.securemac.com/sophos-anti-virus-review.php
TAANSTAAFL, Flintsilver7. "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!" it's time you learned that. I'm economist at heart. People usually don't do things for altruistic motives like give away the products they've invested time and money developing to people so they can sell something else to somebody else. Here is what your linked article actually, truthfully says:
"So, why are we giving it away for free to home users? Well, I thought that would be obvious. It makes people think we're cool and gets our name out there. That should help us sell even more software to businesses. In other words, it's all about brand awareness."
It says exactly what I told you they were doing. They intend to sell their commercial Mac AV software to businesses who use Macs. Or do you think they are giving away Mac AV software to sell Windows AV software to businesses? To do this they needed to gin up some buzz that there is a danger. How? Give away some free AV and then make press releases about all the scary stuff it finds! Don't differentiate it . . . Just make sure there's some Mac specific malware on the list and if you have to turn off the system level protections to assure your user level protection will get to see it, so be it. All's fair in war and business is war... or at least one robber baron said that.
Lastly, there is zero indication that the Sophos software in any way allows malware in that otherwise wouldn’t be. That would make the Sophos software malware itself. You’re making claims that Sophos disables built-in protection to expose the machine to malware and there is no evidence of that that I can find.
That YOU can find. The thing speaks for itself, Flintsilver. I did not say that it let's it in. I said it finds it, but to find it, it allows it to download first, a greater intrusion than the core level protection allowed. Sophos AV does block it but it does disable the other built -in protection so that IT can claim to find it. Is it malware itself? No. I'd call it mostly unnecessary ware. it does a job the system already does adequately and then tells you needlessly about things that are not at all threats to your system. . . all so a third party can sell something to someone else. It's a marketing ploy I chose not to be part of.
I've run OSX Macs bare naked without a firewall on the Internet as an experiment for over two years and not been invaded. You cannot safely do that with a Windows computer. I don't do that any more only because I have several virtual Windows machines running in windows on my Mac for testing purposes. . . and I don't want them compromised. Why should any Mac user waste computer resources running Sophos' AV for no reason?
How about addressing the fact that Sophos could only name 22 malware for Mac OSX in the exhaustive history, now covering 10 years... And seventeen of those malware, were the known social engineering Trojans that any platform can be made susceptible to because they target human foibles and that OSX WILL block these Trojans at the system level if allowed to operate normally.
That leaves just five of the 22... all of them failed proof-of-concept, never seen in-the-wild, virus candidates that ultimately did not work and failed for lack of a viable vector, and two non-malware scareware ad campaigns?
Sophos actually missed a few that I've posted over the years here on FR... but they also were failed POC candidates that were not viable. Two day tempests in a teapot in the Mac community that were announced and quickly faded when they were proved either frauds or failures.
Using your own ammo against you is hoisting you on your own petard, Flint.
"I agree that it's a great idea for Sophos to offer this product free for Mac home users. Our company has used Sophos for several years on Mac and Windows systems. I like being able to tell our users that they can have all their Macs protected with a free version.However, as the admin who receives automated alerts about everything Sophos finds on our Macs, I can tell you that it is very, very rare to see any threat with OSX in the name. I have never had any Mac threat on any of the Macs I use at home, and that is even with teen-agers using them. This is not my head in the sand, this is still the reality that Mac threats are exceedingly rare, and virtually every one of them requires users to do something stupid to become affected or infected. I await Mr. Cluley's response! ;-)
I save every Sophos alert generated from one of the several hundred Macs in our business. Right now, I have 1,068 of them going back to 2005 -- so that in itself is not a huge number. Out of those 1,068 alerts, only four of them contain the letters OSX in the threat description. Now I suppose some of the others could be cross-platform?
Sophos' Brian Cluley did not respond. I think that more than makes the case for the LACK of any threat! Again you are hoist on your petard, Flint.