A web poll of more than 350 computer users*, conducted by Sophos
in the shadow of the discovery
of the first financially motivated malware for Mac OS X, has
revealed that 93% believe Apple Macintoshes will be targeted more
in future. However, half of those polled said they did not believe
the problem would be as great as that faced by users of Microsoft
Windows.
The survey results, which are revealed in a Sophos podcast
entitled
"Big Mac attack or super-sized hype?", show that Apple Mac
users are becoming less optimistic about the likelihood of their
computers being attacked in future. A similar survey two years
ago, found only 79% believed that Macintosh computers would
become more commonly targeted by hackers.
Survey results
The first financially motivated malware for
Macintoshes has been discovered. Do you think in the future Macs
will be targeted more often?
|
| Yes, but not as much
as Windows |
|
|
| Yes |
|
|
| No |
|
* Sophos web poll, 29 January-7 February 2008, 355
respondents.
"Although we have seen the first attempts by criminal gangs to
make money through Mac OS X malware, the fact of that matter is
that there is only a tiny number of viruses and Trojan horses for
Apple Macs when compared to Windows PCs. It seems unlikely that the
Mac virus problem will ever be as big as the Windows one," said
Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Yes, the Macintosh
malware threat is a concern - but it's important to put it in
perspective. Sophos's podcast discusses the history and evolution
of Macintosh malware, helping IT administrators better understand
the problem and protect their systems."
Last month Sophos published
its annual Security Threat Report, which described how
financially motivated hackers had targeted Apple Mac computers with
malware for the first time.
Simply click on the arrow above to stream the
podcast through your browser. Alternatively you can download
it to your MP3 player.
All Sophos podcasts are available for
download. Previous podcasts have covered topics such as the
dangers
of social networking sites, zero-day
threats, pump-and-dump
spam, anti-virus
testing, and rootkits.
Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that this poll is not
scientific and is provided for information purposes only. Sophos
makes no guarantees about the accuracy of the results other than
that they reflect the choices of the users who participated.
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.