Forbes: Cybercrime Game Theory: Why Apple's Malware Grace Period Ended Early

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by Andy Greenberg
4/20/2012

It was always just a matter of time until malware writers started targeting Macs. Until suddenly, time was up - much sooner than expected.

The Flashback Trojan that infected 700,000 Macs at its peak earlier this month represents a rude awakening for Apple users who long believed their computers to be immune from the kind of malicious software that infects PCs. Security researchers know that Macs are no better protected from cybercriminals’ attacks than Windows machines. But for years, it was believed that Apple’s low market share would protect it from online evildoers. Why waste time coding a virus for Apple’s tiny sliver of users when a much vaster sea of vulnerable Windows machines was waiting to be infected and hijacked for click fraud, denial of service attacks or credit card theft?

But fraudsters are shifting their focus to Macs nonetheless.

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