Graham Cluley Apple Quotations

Viruses emerging for the Mac OS X platform is headline news for Apple fans, but they are currently posing far from the level of threat that Windows users face every day. No-one should panic, but this is an indication that hackers are showing an increased interest in targeting the platform.

Every month Microsoft releases security patches for its software - and it's often a race against time for companies to roll these patches out across their business before a hacker takes advantage of the vulnerability. A security hole which allows hackers with malicious intentions to run code on Windows or Apple Mac computers is very serious, and all affected users should ensure they have defended their systems.

The question on everyone's lips is - when will we see the next one, and will it have a more malicious payload. Apple Mac users need to be just as careful about protecting their computers with anti-virus software, firewalls and security patches as their friends and colleagues using Windows.

This is the first real virus for the Mac OS X platform. Apple Mac users need to be just as careful running unknown or unsolicited code on their computers as their friends and colleagues running Windows.

The bad news is that most people think the situation is going to get worse for Macintosh users, and more threats will be targeted against the Apple community. The good news is that most don't believe it will ever be as big a problem as the one Microsoft Windows faces. What's perhaps surprising is that there is a hardcore element of 21% who believe that threat attempts against Mac users will not grow.

Apple Macs have been in the news for the last few weeks regarding a number of security issues. It's important that all computer users are protected against the latest attacks, and have their computers properly patched against vulnerabilities in the operating system. It would be a mistake to think that security flaws are only found in Microsoft's products.