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Security Firm Says Get A Mac
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-07-05
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Before a brutal wave of Trojan horses can invade PCs globally, one security company recommends switching from the world of Windows to the joy of Macs.
It may be time for the computing world, from the most isolated solo blogger to the biggest international companies, to think about life after Windows. With the release of their latest Security Threat Management Report, Sophos includes a suggestion that the home computer market, at least, should consider a Mac for their next computer purchase.
"The continuing rise of malware will concern many - the criminals responsible are obviously making money from their code, otherwise they'd give up the game," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
Cluley also noted that these criminals have focused on Windows and ignored other platforms. "It seems likely that Macs will continue to be the safer place for computer users for some time to come - something that home users may wish to consider if they're deliberating about the next computer they should purchase," he said.
Although a piece of malware, the OSX/Leap-A worm, emerged in February 2006 as a Mac threat, it never made any significant impact on the Mac's user base. It did signal the beginning of the end of the perception that the Mac is a bulletproof platform against such attacks.
Switching to the Mac would shield those users from what Sophos described as an "onslaught" of malware that seems destined to hit the Windows world. As Cluley noted, there is a significant profit motivation involved when it comes to writing malware like the Sober-Z worm, which occupied 22.4 percent of all malware detected by Sophos in the first six months of 2006.
Personal and home office users should find what they need on the Mac platform, depending on their interests. Alternative web browsers like Safari, Firefox, and Opera abound for the Mac. OpenOffice provides a change from the Microsoft hegemony with its freely available productivity suite.
Should software-as-a-service truly take root, and extend to the Mac OS, the study Sophos discusses in three years could be one that encourages enterprises to think differently about their computing environments when it comes to security.
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Tags: Sophos, Mac, Computer Security
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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