Mac P2P filesharing

Is it safe?

[SEOMike]

We have people in our office with macs who regularly download from a P2P program. Is this safe to do with Macs?

[blakmonk]

safer than windows, I would say...

[mivox]

Well, that is the only way I've ever caught a virus with my Mac... but if they have standard, regularly updated antivirus software, it shouldn't pose a problem.

[aaronjf]

Mivox - OS 9 Virus or OX X?

[mivox]

It was OS9, and I didn't have *any* antivirus software set up. It was also about 5 years ago... hadn't had a single virus in the 9 years I'd been using Macs before that, and haven't had any viruses since then.

Now I'm on OSX, and I suppose I should install some protective somethingorother, just to be on the safe side...

[timster]

Sure, Macs have great security, but using P2P services is still a risky business. How risky depends on how careful the P2P users are.

If the users are actually installing and running programs, those programs could easily contain malicious code to delete users files, and maybe send spam, etc.

At least make sure your users never enter administrator passwords at the request of anything the download.

A while ago, there was a weakness revealed that one type of file (e.g., a script that sends your files to a remote location) might masquerade as a file of another type (e.g., a Britney video) but this was patched soon after the exploit (the much ballyhooed "Mac OS X Trojan Horse) was brought to light.

[macfixit.com ]