Does My Macbook Need Protection?

Apple has bragged for years that their computers were unlikely to be hacked and that it was even less likely that they could get viruses.

Check this out:

"a new security vulnerability in MacBook batteries means that it’s possible that future hackers won’t just try to steal your credit card numbers, but might actually cause your computer to meltdown instead.

The vulnerability was discovered by Accuvant security researcher Charlie Miller, who says that Apple’s MacBook batteries use default passwords on their MacBooks.

Why’s that a problem? Well, because the batteries use default passwords, the battery controller can be compromised by any malicious hacker who knows the password, giving him access to the low level hardware. This security hole can then be exploited in various ways, from just causing the battery to stop functioning to auto-installing malware. It can even cause full on overheating.

Miller got the passwords by backwards engineering one of Apple’s 2009 battery update.

The good news is that right now, this isn’t a major security threat. To get remote access to the battery of your MacBook, a malware developer would first have to figure out a way to bypass OS X’s security measures, which isn’t an easy task."

http://www.cultofmac.com/105843/hacker-your-macbooks-battery-is-vulnerable-to-viruses-malware-and-meltdown/

And there is more to come.

What can you do?

Well, DO NOT use Mac Defender! It's bad. see this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Defender

Also, I do not trust MacKeeper. There is a lot of contradictory information about it on the Net. Many praise it, but others are not as kind. I have had a certified Apple technician tell me that a possible cause of a recent Macbook meltsdown "could" have been caused by MacKeeper. My thought: Why take the chance?

One that I like is

Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition

It seems to do very well at catching malware, because Mac's CAN get Trojan malware, especially if they connect to other computing devices.

Read reviews of the program and see what you think and ask me questions!