[OT] MacDefender

[Scott Rossi]

Recently, Roger Eller wrote:

>> Anyway, if you've downloaded and installed this thing, then you get what
>> you deserve.
> 
> I don't believe that anyone DESERVES to get a virus.  There are
> newbies (noobs) even to the intuitive Mac OS.  There are innocent
> little grandmothers that got a Mac mini for Mothers Day.  Do they
> deserve to get a virus because they didn't know not to install it?
> Hmmm... I must have gotten my nerve touched too.

Excellent point.  This also applies to the comment about having the OS
handle virus protection.  While in theory this might be a good idea, the
fact of the matter is that virus/spam dialogs are designed to LOOK like they
are generated by the system and are very convincing in appearance.  If
you've ever helped folks try to rid their Windows systems of malware, you
would see the behavior/appearance of the windows is impressively deceptive.
Saying users should just "know" which messages are scams and which are
authentic is just unrealistic.

My mom has a Mac system and because of my warnings and skepticism, she is
leery of even running system updates -- "Is this update message real or
fake?"  It takes time and experience for folks to be able to distinguish
real from scam, and for many users, it's not going to happen any time soon.

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director
Tactile Media, UX Design