I am no Microsoft apologist, but I have long held the belief that the biggest reason that we see so much more malware on Windows is that it represents so much larger of a target. Of course, there is that mass of spaghetti that Microsoft calls the registry. Complexity and security just don't live well together. And then there is all that legacy code that dates back to the first build of Windows 95.

In any case, we are starting to see malware writers branch out a bit. Here is an article about a rootkit that exploits a new way to hide files and processes in Linux.

The first Mac botnet has surfaced. The attack was contained in a Trojan version of iWork '09. Let's be fair, though. In order to get this one, you had to download and run a "trial version" of this program from a file-sharing site. This is hardly on the level of Conficker, but it shows that some enterprising hackers are targeting OS-X.

Finally, we are starting to see more malware targeting smart phones. This was inevitable, given the number of these pocket-sized computers in use and the valuable data that is on them. This particular attack is rather concerning, since it requires only a SMS message which can direct the phone to a malicious website. Anti-malware for smart phones is not much of an issue now, but look for it to become more important as phones morph into portable computers that also happen to be able to make phone calls.

Dennis H in West Virginia, US

May 13