McAfee: Cybercriminals Will Target Apple in 2011

Posted 12/28/2010 at 9:55am | by Paul Lilly

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Conventional wisdom says that Windows falls prey to more attacks simply because there are more Windows users than any other platform. Well, you can go ahead and throw conventional wisdom out the Window, because in 2011, cybercriminals will have their eye on a number of alternative OSes, according to security firm McAfee.

McAfee sees cybercriminals shifting their attention to "2010's most buzzed about platforms and services," such as Google's Android, Apple's iPhone, foursquare, Google TV, and the Mac OS X platform.

"We've seen significant advancements in device and social network adoption, placing a bulls-eye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most," said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. "These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we're already seeing a significant increase vulnerabilities, attacks, and data loss."

McAfee goes on and on about emerging threats to mobile platforms, though we're inclined to take a little of what they say with a grain of salt. It's worth mentioning that Intel recently acquired McAfee for $7.68 billion and has hinted it would be coming out with mobile security products.