“Over the weekend I found myself stuck in a local mall with hordes of bargain-hunting shoppers, and noticed for the first time a truly massive new Apple store where an old clothier used to be,” Brian Krebs writes for The Washington Post. “There were so many people in that place that I thought the dozens of Mac machines whirring atop gleaming white towers throughout the store were going to melt or burst into flames — the temperature in that place was easily 10 to 15 degrees warmer than any other store I’d been in. There could not have been enough machines in the stockroom to satisfy all the customers jostling for a chance to play with the computers.”

“Fact: Macs are coming down in price. Fact: More people are fed up with the incessant viruses, spyware etc. on Windows that switching to a Mac is more appealing than ever. My hunch: 2006 may turn out to be the year we start seeing a significant growth in the Mac user base, and with it, if not Mac viruses or worms, then at least some automated tools for attacking various Mac vulnerabilities,” Krebs writes. “I’m willing to bet that there are plenty of Mac users still running older or at least unpatched — and unfirewalled — versions of OS X (10.3.x). Take a growing user base and combine that with the complacency that comes with not having to fend off constant attacks, and it seems to me you have a fertile stomping ground for attackers.”

Full article here.

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MacDailyNews Take: No operating system is invulnerable, but users of Mac OS X are so much safer than users of Windows, it’s impossible to overstate the discrepancy. Some basic common sense advice: Don’t run Mac OS X as root and don’t authorize applications that you don’t understand or from sources you don’t trust. Use Software Update to keep your Mac up to date. Update to the latest version of Mac OS X. Use your built-in Mac OS X Firewall (System Preferences>Sharing>Firewall) if it makes sense for your setup. Run AntiVirus apps to screen out Windows viruses, so you don’t pass them on to Windows sufferers, if you’re feeling like a magnanimous network citizen. Don’t be complacent, but don’t get too worried, either.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple releases Security Update 2005-009 for Mac OS X – November 29, 2005
SANS Institute lists Apple’s Mac OS X as ‘major security threat’ – November 29, 2005
Computer columnist: anti-virus software purely optional for Apple Macs, not so for Windows – November 01, 2005
Microsoft apologists and why Apple’s Mac OS X has zero viruses – October 24, 2005
$500 bounty offered for proof of first Apple Mac OS X virus – September 27, 2005
How to avoid viruses and malware? Dump your Windows PC and get an Apple Macintosh – August 22, 2005
Do Apple Mac OS X users need antivirus software? – August 22, 2005
ZDNet: How many Mac OS X users affected by the last 100 viruses? None, zero, not one, not ever – August 18, 2005
16-percent of computer users are unaffected by viruses, malware because they use Apple Macs – June 15, 2005
Intel CEO Otellini: If you want security now, buy a Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC – May 25, 2005
There are no viruses for Apple’s Mac OS X – May 13, 2005
Apple touts Mac OS X security advantages over Windows – April 13, 2005
97,467 Microsoft Windows viruses vs. zero for Apple Mac’s OS X – April 05, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X is virus-free – March 18, 2005
Cybersecurity advisor Clarke questions why anybody would buy from Microsoft – February 18, 2005
Security test: Windows XP system easily compromised while Apple’s Mac OS X stands safe and secure – November 30, 2004
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
Information Security Investigator says switch from Windows to Mac OS X for security – September 24, 2004
New York Times: Mac OS X ‘much more secure than Windows XP’ – September 18, 2003