Security experts predict rise in cyber threats against Apple devices in 2016
Security firm Symantec expects cyber attacks against Apple products to rise in 2016, after malware attacks against iOS and Mac OS X spiked sharply this year.
"A rising number of threat actors have begun developing malware designed to infect devices running Mac OS X or iOS," said Dick O'Brien, a Symantec researcher.
According to Symantec's research, malware aimed at iOS doubled in 2015, while the number of Mac computers infected in 2015 was seven times greater than 2014.
O'Brien and Symantec released a 30 page analysis on the state of Apple security and vulnerability to cyber attack earlier this week.
The report noted that cyber attacks against iOS and OS X were "quite low" when compared to the company's main competitors -- Android in mobile and Windows for desktop computing -- but that the "level of Apple-related malware infections has spiked, particularly in the past 18 months."
O'Brien also speculates that Apple Pay could be a target of cybercriminals in 2016, given the financial incentive to finding a vulnerability in the system.
"A rising number of threat actors have begun developing malware designed to infect devices running Mac OS X or iOS," said Dick O'Brien, a Symantec researcher.
According to Symantec's research, malware aimed at iOS doubled in 2015, while the number of Mac computers infected in 2015 was seven times greater than 2014.
O'Brien and Symantec released a 30 page analysis on the state of Apple security and vulnerability to cyber attack earlier this week.
The report noted that cyber attacks against iOS and OS X were "quite low" when compared to the company's main competitors -- Android in mobile and Windows for desktop computing -- but that the "level of Apple-related malware infections has spiked, particularly in the past 18 months."
O'Brien also speculates that Apple Pay could be a target of cybercriminals in 2016, given the financial incentive to finding a vulnerability in the system.
Comments
2) I'm curious was constitutes malware by their definition.
3) I'd think the percentage of devices that have been breached would be a useful metric.
4) I really wish the "Contrary to some beliefs, the Mac OS X environment is not free from malware," argument would end. I've only ever ever hear that argument from people that a) hate Apple, and b) never used an Apple product.
-Symantec
-Dick @ Symantec
-Dick @ Symantec
There are NO viruses in the wild (ok, not really and Apple has been super great patching any noted holes in the system very quickly.
Just saying here.
Apple's ad = good
everyone else's ad = bad.
Not so much. There was at least one vulnerability (a fairly big one) in 10.10 that Apple "won't fixed" because the fix was in 10.11, except 10.11 was still in beta and several weeks from release at that point.
And I'm sorry if it hurts feelings, but OS X malware is a thing. Not huge, but it exists.
I don’t know, but the answer may or may not be in their 30 page analysis. Yet I do know that I will not read it (TL;DR), let alone get baited for giving them the click. I will however disclose my personal simple methodology that answers those type of questions from those type of people, which has given statistically good results in the past and I suspect for the foreseeable future. The answer usually is the same as the identical answers to this simple 2 pronged question :
Would this make Apple look bad and would they have done the same for any other company ?
Would this make Apple look bad and would they have done the exact opposite for any other company ?
your anti Apple agenda is tiring.