Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Internet security firm says dump PCs for safety of a Mac
Sophos Security issued a warning this week to users of personal computers urging them to swith to Macs for better security.
The Sophos Security Threat Management Report, a six month study of cyber crimes, found there has been a vast drop in the number of new viruses and worms being written, but an increase in other types of malware, as cyber criminals turn their attention to stealing information and money.
In June 2005, the number of different pieces of malware protected against by Sophos stood at 140,118. A year later, by June 2006, Sophos was identifying and protecting against 180,292 different viruses, spyware, worms, Trojan horses and other malware, as well as adware and other potentially unwanted applications, according to the report.
The vast majority of malware continues to be written for Windows, and while the first malware for Mac OS X was seen in February 2006, it has not spread in the wild and not heralded an avalanche of malicious code aimed at Macs.
The report also found that the top ten list of malware reported at Sophos's global network of monitoring stations in the first six months of 2006, accounting for more than 60 percent of all malware, were all written for Windows-based PCs.
The Sophos Security Threat Management Report, a six month study of cyber crimes, found there has been a vast drop in the number of new viruses and worms being written, but an increase in other types of malware, as cyber criminals turn their attention to stealing information and money.
In June 2005, the number of different pieces of malware protected against by Sophos stood at 140,118. A year later, by June 2006, Sophos was identifying and protecting against 180,292 different viruses, spyware, worms, Trojan horses and other malware, as well as adware and other potentially unwanted applications, according to the report.
The vast majority of malware continues to be written for Windows, and while the first malware for Mac OS X was seen in February 2006, it has not spread in the wild and not heralded an avalanche of malicious code aimed at Macs.
The report also found that the top ten list of malware reported at Sophos's global network of monitoring stations in the first six months of 2006, accounting for more than 60 percent of all malware, were all written for Windows-based PCs.
# posted by Apple Bytes @ 8:51 PM 
