Vinn 25 000$ for Mac-virus

Etter at Symantec tidligere i uken hevdet at Mac OS X nå var mye mer utsatt for virus etter at Apples popularitet øker, har de måtte tåle mye pepper for å "skremme" Mac-brukere for å selge mer av sine egne produkter. Nå tar DVForge Symantec til motmele og tilbyr 25 000$ for de første som greier å lage et virus til Mac OS X. DVForge påstår at Mac OS X er så sikkert og at Symantec kun sprer frykt for å selge flere av sine egne produkter til Mac. Det at det per dags dato ikke har eksistert et virus til Mac OS X mener DVForge er en god nok grunn til at denne konkurranseprisen ikke vil bli utbetalt.

DVForge krever at viruset skal spres og smitte mange Macer før det blir kåret som vinner. DVForge har satt opp tre seperate Macer som brukes daglig og ikke står i samme nettverk. Alle disse tre Macene må være smittet for at noen skal vinne prisen og for at virues skal kunne defineres som et virus i spredning.

DVForge skriver følgende om konkurransen :

We have designated two G5 Power Mac computer systems, each running an unmodified retail installation of OS X 10.3 Panther, each located in the Hendersonville, Tennessee area, but located approximately 3-miles away from each other in entirely different facilities. The only network connection between the two systems is the internet. Both Power Macs are on a minimum 8 to 12 hour per day, five to seven day per week usage, and run any number of popular Mac software applications. Each uses OS X mail.app as the email client, and Safari as the web browser, with neither machine or its LAN having a firewall in use. Each is connected to the internet through an unencrypted Airport network, to a full T-1 line.

Each day, we will scan both Power Macs for the presence of an OS X native executable virus, using a commercially available virus scanning utility. The day we locate a copy of the same virus running on both Power Macs, that virus is the winner of our contest.

To win the contest, the person coding the virus must submit an email notice to us with a transcript of at least 32 contiguous characters of code included in the virus, a brief description of the functionality and symptoms of the virus, and contact information for contest notification and payment of the $25,000 prize. The prize will be awarded to the person whose 32-character code sample, and functionality and symptoms description match the actual virus detected on the two contest Power Macs.

There has been much misinformation publicized recently about a supposed risk to the OS X operating system from virus attacks, with the 'risk' supposedly increasing as Mac computer sales are increasing. As a Mac dedicated business, and as a group of long-term Mac users, we know that these warnings are not true, and that there are a number of fundamental safeguards against virus attacks that keep the OS X operating system without its first in-the-wild virus. The 'small number' of Macs has nothing to do with the lack of virus incidents. It is the architecture of Apple's operating system that protects its users from these bugs.

We are operating this contest until midnight July 31, 2005. Should the conditions for winning be met prior to that time, we will immediately award the $25,000 payment to the virus developer who succeeded in cracking the Mac's inherent immunities.

For virkelig å sparke til Symantecs skremselspropaganda har DVForge sagt at hvis viruset skrives av Symantecs ansatte vil de betale ut det dobbelte, 50 000$. Dette er en stor utfordring og sannsynligvis vil en del prøve seg på å lage virus for Mac OS X - om noen får suksess er vanskelig å si. Uansett, per i dag finnes det ingen virus til Mac OS X i spredning og Mac OS X har vært på markedet siden 2001.