Sometimes stating the obvious is necessary.

Apple Macs are no safer than Windows PCs when it comes to phishing attacks. This USA Today newsblog post outlining how Mac users are getting victimized by phishers just as readily as PC users has irritated many Mac loyalists.

The posting made reference to a recent phone survey of 1,003 consumers — commissioned by antivirus vendor Eset — that shows 57% of Mac users feel it is safe to use their computers with no antivirus protection, while only 27% of Windows PC users feel that way.

But with phishing attacks spiking — and with elite phishers increasingly harvesting Web mail and social network account logos — the fact that Mac users are not immune is a point well worth making, however obvious.

False sense of security

Watching TV commercials like this one, which depicts the Windows PC geek in a biohazard suit, may reinforce a false notion in the minds of some some Mac users that they are immune to virtually all cyberattacks. Not so.

Yes, Mac fans, virus writers continue to focus primarily on Windows, since nine of 10 computers connected to the Web are PCs. However, phishers are platform agnostic. And right now phishing attacks are surging. That means all Web users, regardless of one’s preferred platform, face an escalating risk.

“Phishing attacks are just as effective on Macs, Linux, Windows, Solaris, and any operating system since they rely on tricking the user and not upon malicious software or any software vulnerabilities,” says Randy Abrams, Eset’s director of technical education. “The Mac offers no immunity to phishing attacks and so we see an equal percentage of victim representation across the board.”

Meanwhile, as Macs become more popular, virus writers are stepping up development of malicious programs to take advantage of Macs, as Kaspersky Lab’s Timothy Armstrong argues in this LastWatchdog guest blog posting.

To buy or not to buy

Kaspersky recently became the latest security vendor to begin offering an antivirus protection suite for Apple computers. Other security products already on the market include Mac versions of Norton Antivirus, Sophos Antivirus, PC Tools iAntivirus, Avast Antivirus, and McAfee ViruScan, as well as Intego VirusBarrier X5, Avast and ProtectMac AntiVirus.

Eset does not sell any antivirus products for Macs. Still, Abrams says Mac users “should definitely” consider AV protection.

“Right now the risk of malware to the Mac is pretty small, but there has been increasing interest by the bad guys in the platform,” says Abrams. “There was a time that most PC users could go without AV protection, but those who were early adopters dodged a lot of bullets when the problem worsened and they were prepared.”

Abrams is the author of this blog post offering simple, valuable tips s for avoiding phishing scams. “Currently the top protection against phishing is education,” he says.

Illustration courtesy of Eset

–Byron Acohido

November 18th, 2009 | Imminent threats | Top Stories