As most of us know, Macs have a  “renowned”  virus free reputation at least to the society at large.Mac’s aren’t immune to viruses  and there is no reason to believe that they will now and forever be “virus free” .. unless they had some form of super dupper force field that magically protects them, which unfortunately they dont.

I am sure there are other  reasons why  the Mac appears to be virus free.However one of the main reasons  why viruses aren’t popping up left, right and center in the wild for Macs is  based solely on market share. MAC’s are only 5% of the current market  while Windows still has over 90% market share. (see figure below). Its all about statistics, in the eyes of a  malware/virus writer stands a better chance writing malicious software for Windows in this case simple because there is a better chance of success of more machines becoming infected. Hey if I wanted my own botnet I would be creating malware for the OS with the largest market share.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Operating System Market Share

The relationship between viruses for the Mac and Apples market share can be said to be directly proportional. You can expect the number of vulnerabilities for the Mac to increase as Apple gets a bigger piece of the pie, it is as simple as that.

BTW did I mention I love my MacBook Pro 🙂 and OS X. Dont get me wrong the Mac OS is one of the most secure, and as I clearly said other factors/reasons contribute to why the Mac has a virus free reputation, however I believe the market share is one of the stronger factors.

I am just very tired of hearing people say “Macs dont get viruses”
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For your reading

Perception, Security and Worms in the Apple
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