Apple criticised for pulling anti-virus advice

Apple has a history of promoting its products as unlikely to get hit by viruses

Apple's decision to pull a page on its web site advising customers to run anti-virus software on their computers has received a frosty response by some in the security industry.

The page, which had been live for over a year, advised the use of multiple anti-virus engines to block potential attacks. Apple removed the page on Tuesday because it was old, a spokesman claimed.

But security firm Sophos said Apple should have updated the post, rather than removing it completely.

"The only possible inaccuracies I saw in the original Apple support article was that poorly chosen language could be interpreted as advising that Mac users use multiple anti-virus products on the same computer, and the list of security vendors was not comprehensive," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"So I am disappointed to see that the support advisory has been withdrawn after 18 months, rather than had some minor fixes.

"Although I agree that the Mac does include some cool built-in technology to help protect against security threats, these can be circumvented through simple social engineering tricks that we see used by Windows malware every day."

The Apple advice attracted interest because the computer giant has a history of promoting its products as unlikely to get hit by viruses, in stark opposition to Microsoft-based PCs.

The original page can be seen at Archive.org.