Mac attacks?

Because more and more people are buying Apple computers, their OS X operating system is "increasingly at risk of attack" by hackers, says Symantec (as reported by many news outlets, including ZDNET. But take that with a grain of salt, suggests a San Jose Mercury News column: "This according to astonishingly self-serving Symantec Internet Security Threat Reports, a document that says far more about the looming vulnerabilities in Symantec's business model than it does about those in Apple's operating system," says Good Morning Silicon Valley. What's useful for family PC owners to know is that it's not just the smaller number of Macintoshes out there (vs. the huge number of Windows computers) that makes Macs more secure. Yes, "generally speaking, as an operating system's market share grows, it garners a bit more attention from malware authors.... But let's be honest, it's going to be years before OS X can reach the standard set by Windows in this category. There have been 37 vulnerabilities in Mac OS X in the past year, all of which were quickly and efficiently patched (none were exploited because OS X requires a root password before it will install new software)" - including viruses. This week Apple released its latest patch, which prevents phishers from fooling users of the Safari Web browser, ZDNET reports in another article.