Apple → [OS X] Noticeable upswing in Mac malware?

Again to jail break it. The same exploit (there have been quite a few) could be used to infect the phone. No need for dfu etc. When you jail break you are gaining root access. Early android root also required things like using adb recovery etc. Now in many phones it can be done with out so much as a reboot. Run a app and done. Just because something has not happened yet does not mean it can not be done. The same thing you say now about the os preventing viruses was also said about mac and linux. Both now have viruses and malware. And that includes the older oses. So it was not a flaw that only exists in newer mac os versions

Sometimes tough to do since security is coupled with OS updates and older hardware is unable to keep up. How likely do you think malware gets through iOS that isn't jailbroke but the OS isn't kept up to date due to hardware concerns?

Nobody can say for sure, but it's very unlikely. The security model of iOS compared to a normal desktop OS is very different, which makes it extremely difficult (albeit not impossible) to write viruses for iOS.

Ideally, you should be running at least iOS 6.1.x. IIRC, iOS 5.x was the last to contain a known remotely exploitable security flaw. And early versions of iOS 6.0 and 6.1 contained the SSL flaws, which doesn't make the OS insecure, but makes it more difficult for the user to spot a fake website from a real one.

Absolutely.

Yes, I upgraded from 6 to 7 when the SSL issues arose. I am still running 7.1.2. Hesitant to move to 8.1.3 due to hardware. I am running an iPad 3, bought in 9/2012.

Wish Apple would separate security issues from OS upgrades or allow one to install only security patches if they choose. Similar to Firefox's ESR browser updates which often are security needs only, not the other bells and whistles.

Any reason why Apple doesn't do this?

Will ClamXAV detect all this garbage?

Mine is installed, no background scan, and I've been too lazy to run a full system scan for months on end now...

I guess I'm my own OS X anti-malware scanner... blah.

I started out removing adware/crapware by hand, then started using the ART script from thesafemac, now I've shifted to adwaremedic. Quite useful. Worth a quick download and run. Highly recommended.

Most likely it will not detect malware.