A report published by Sophos, a world leader in anti-virus
protection for businesses, reveals that the vast majority of
viruses are ignoring owners of Macintosh computers and targeting PC
users instead.
In an analysis of all the viruses reported to its customer
support department during the first six months of 2003, Sophos
discovered that the most commonly reported virus that could infect
Apple Mac computers crept in at a lowly 78th position with a mere
0.16% of all reports.
In comparison, the top ten viruses reported in the first six
months of 2003 were all Windows viruses incapable of infecting the
Macintosh operating system. Just these ten viruses accounted for a
staggering 50.4% of all reports.
"Despite their cool designer looks, Apple Macs are failing to
capture interest amongst the counter-culture which writes viruses,"
said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos
Anti-Virus. "It's perfectly possible to write viruses for Apple
Macs. Indeed, a Mac has no more inherent security when it comes to
malware than a PC, but virus writers appear to be motivated by a
desire to cause widespread havoc and so have concentrated on the
market leader."
Sophos notes that although Mac users are less likely to be
infected by a virus than their PC friends and colleagues, they are
still at risk of being infected by a Mac-specific virus and
affected by the most virulent kind of PC virus - the
email-aware worm.
"Mass-mailing worms spread via the internet, forwarding
themselves on to every email address they can find," explained
Graham Cluley. "Worms don't know when they launch themselves
whether they are being sent to an email address belonging to a PC
or a Mac user. Many Mac users have found that their email inboxes
are being filled up with PC worms which - although can do no harm
on the Mac - are a nuisance to delete or may be manually forwarded
on to unsuspecting PC colleagues."
Sophos detected and protected against 3,855 newly written
viruses in the first six months of 2003. The company now protects
its customers against a grand total of 82,870 viruses. The number
of viruses being written is on the increase, up 17.5% when compared
to the same period last year. However, the majority of viruses
breaking into the wild are PC-specific and will not run on
Macintosh systems.
Sophos advises all computer users, whether running PCs or Macs,
to practise safe computing and keep their anti-virus software
updated.
"Mac users shouldn't think it's okay to lie back on their
laurels and not worry about viruses - they do exist for Mac
computers, and do infect systems on a daily basis. It just doesn't
seem to be as large a problem as on PCs," continued Cluley.
Read Sophos's full report on viruses encountered in the first
six months of 2003 here.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.