DVForge Virus Prize offered, rescinded

Yahoo! News ^ | Sat Mar 26, 3:44 PM ET | By Peter Cohen - MacCentral

[Swordmaker]

Dang Lawyers force Mac virus contest prize PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping list, Freepmail me.

[Yossarian]

Jack is a bufoon, fool, and fraud. Check out the page Macintouch has been keeping on the guy

Anyone who financially promotes viruses to be unleashed needs to be sent to al-Zarqawi in Iraq, presented with a bow tie on his head.

[Swordmaker]

Jack posted this:

The legal concerns stemmed from a number of very recent case law rulings that were not brought to my attention prior to the contest, where even benign, harmless viruses have been held to meet the federal law's requirement for "damage" to a computer. I only received this information mid-morning Saturday. So, I pulled the contest, to keep from exposing our company to potential liabilities. I will remain convinced that the July 31 deadline would have come and passed without a successful in-the-wild virus having been submitted. But, due to modern liability realities, we will never know. Shame.

[tubebender]

Sounds to me like he checked his bank account and found he was over drawn...

[Yossarian]

What a tool. He doesn't know the amount of damage the 1989 "benign, harmless" internet worm did?

[boris]

Now, prize or not, the viri writers will turn their Sauron-like eye to the Mac...just for bragging rights...

[Swordmaker]

Now, prize or not, the viri writers will turn their Sauron-like eye to the Mac...just for bragging rights...

Four years and counting... no bragging yet!

Obviously, it ain't that easy.

[Bush2000]

Obviously, it ain't that easy.

Get over yourself. Nobody cares. It's that simple.

[Swordmaker]

Get over yourself. Nobody cares. It's that simple.

You've claimed you can do it... so do it. Get the accolades as the hacker who created an OSX virus.

[Bush2000]

You've claimed you can do it... so do it. Get the accolades as the hacker who created an OSX virus.

I certainly could do it -- if it were worth my time and if I weren't concerned about potential liability.

[CheneyChick]

Oh please. Anyone can say it. Doing it is another thing. If it was that easy, it would have been done by now by some whiz kid who has nothing but time and could care less about liability issues.

[antiRepublicrat]

Get over yourself. Nobody cares. It's that simple.

There were fewer OS 9 machines and plenty of viruses. So all the Mac virus writers decided to retire after OS X was released?

[Leonard210]

There were, and still are, no Mac OS 9 viruses. Why post if you have no idea what you're talking about? "If you wanted to have servers and not be subjected to viruses, I have one suggestion: Macintosh MacOS9. I run all my servers and keep them on MacOS9. I have never had a firewall and I have never been hit in all these years, even though I appear on TV shows with other hackers and the like. I’d be a prime target, and they have not hit any of my machines." Steve Wozniak

[antiRepublicrat]

There were, and still are, no Mac OS 9 viruses.

Sophos lists 40+ pre-OS X viruses. Going on five years of OS X, none are yet reported in the wild.

[Leonard210]

What do you/they mean by pre-OS X? OS 6, 7, maybe 8? You said "There were fewer OS 9 machines and plenty of viruses." Where does Sophos list the OS 9 viruses? "Virus writers decided to retire?" What are you talking about? "Going on five years of OS X, none are yet reported in the wild." Do you have a valid point that you're trying to make?

[antiRepublicrat]

What do you/they mean by pre-OS X? OS 6, 7, maybe 8?

I meant 9. It did have some.

Do you have a valid point that you're trying to make?

Some say the only reason OS X doesn't have viruses is because of its small marketshare. This logic is flawed because OS 9 had around 40 viruses even though it also had a small marketshare. I doubt the virus writers retired after the release of OS X, so some factor other than marketshare or absence of virus writers must account for the absence of viruses in the wild. Many rightly credit its superior security.

[Leonard210]

My apologies. I must have misunderstood your posts. I still have not discovered, however, those 40+ viruses for Mac OS 9. I've been mulling around Sophos website and find some vague references to how Sophos can protect me, but can't seem to locate the specific viral threats to OS 9. This same company, I should note, has also offered to protect me from viruses for OS X 10.2. (See Sophos protects Mac OS X users from virus attack.) They're willing to sell me a product "designed to protect computers running Macintosh operating system 10.2 and above from all known viruses." I gotta say thank you, but me thinks that Sophos has a vested interest in my seeing viruses where there are none. What makes you think that they have not done the same in regards to Mac OS 9?

[antiRepublicrat]

I still have not discovered, however, those 40+ viruses for Mac OS 9.

Here's the Mac virus FAQ.

I gotta say thank you, but me thinks that Sophos has a vested interest in my seeing viruses where there are none.

I agree, but then Sophos for OS 9 does actually have 40 virus entries it protects you from. I think Sophos for OS X is just an engine waiting for definitions, although it may protect against that one trojan that was created and hit the one person stupid enough to download and install what he thought was a free copy of MS Word, but actually had malicious code.