14 DAY TRIAL // News of the so-called first Mac Trojan spread quickly given its timing just after the Leopard release. Despite what many reports say, it was not the first Trojan and it will likely not be the last, but the increased attention has led to users becoming more and more vocal about the current practices of software developers.
The social nature of Trojans makes them hard to protect against. Unlike other computer threats that try to break in by themselves and can be detected using various methods, Trojans masquerade as something else, thus tricking the user into giving them access to the computer. No security system in the world can protect you from someone you invite into the house and give your security code to, and because of this Trojans will always be employed to dupe less savvy users.
Normally, the fact that the application asks for your administrator password should be a very clear warning sign of a potentially dangerous application. However, in recent years, more and more developers have started asking for this password when installing their applications. Naturally, some of these applications have legitimate reasons for needing system access, but for others there can be none. Apple in no way regulates what applications can ask for system access, but the slight rise in Trojan activity has led users to become far more vocal about developers who needlessly ask for the administrator password in order to install their applications. The vast majority of software should be installable via drag and drop and even if there are certain features that need system access, these should simply be disabled if it is not provided.
It will be interesting to see how developers react, especially considering that Mac users have been known to shun application for a lot less than needlessly asking for system access. But even if applications are more particular about asking for system access, avoidance of software from untrusted sources remains the best defense against Trojans, regardless of what operating system one uses.