Apple's reputation as an unattractive target for malware
writers changed when the Flashback trojan hit more than 600,000 Macs.
But Windows security still looks worse.
Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute, wrote in the group's information security newsletter Tuesday that it was time "to memorialize Apple's arrival as a prime target of cybercrime, following its recent ascent into a trusted platform for enterprise computing."
As Paller notes, Macs now have business cred, due in no small part to Apple hitting a home run with both the smartphone and tablet form factors. Market researchers said the company's success with the iPhone and the iPad has driven more demand than ever for Apple's laptops, not least by business users, even if it means "bringing your own device" (BYOD). Another selling point of Macs is that they've been almost completely unscathed by the last decade's boom in malware.
Interestingly, the attackers behind the Flashback malware that infected approximately 600,000 Macs, or 3% of the active Apple OS X population, reverse-engineered a bug in Java that Oracle patched about six weeks ago. In other words, whoever crafted Flashback appeared to be already conversant in the intricacies of weaponizing Windows bugs.
Read more at informationweek.com
Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute, wrote in the group's information security newsletter Tuesday that it was time "to memorialize Apple's arrival as a prime target of cybercrime, following its recent ascent into a trusted platform for enterprise computing."
As Paller notes, Macs now have business cred, due in no small part to Apple hitting a home run with both the smartphone and tablet form factors. Market researchers said the company's success with the iPhone and the iPad has driven more demand than ever for Apple's laptops, not least by business users, even if it means "bringing your own device" (BYOD). Another selling point of Macs is that they've been almost completely unscathed by the last decade's boom in malware.
Interestingly, the attackers behind the Flashback malware that infected approximately 600,000 Macs, or 3% of the active Apple OS X population, reverse-engineered a bug in Java that Oracle patched about six weeks ago. In other words, whoever crafted Flashback appeared to be already conversant in the intricacies of weaponizing Windows bugs.
Read more at informationweek.com
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