Spyware designed for Windows is ineffective against the Mac. Hackers have begun working different angles to ensnare Mac users, whose confidence in the Mac OS may have lulled them into a false sense of security. For a long time, Mac users were insulated from attacks. The reasons for this were two fold:

1. The Mac operating system was designed to be much more secure than the traditional Windows system. This combined with the fact that

2. the number of Mac users relative to PC users was incredibly small.

There was little incentive for hackers to spend the time and effort to build malware that could breach the Mac’s security. There is also the little issue of corporate reputation. Apple has long been considered the scrappy underdog to Microsoft’s industry dominance. Hackers have long taken great pleasure at pounding holes in Windows, Internet Explorer, and the Office Suite of products.

But as Macs have become more widespread, and Apple’s reputation as an innovator and leading-edge design company, many of the barriers keeping hackers at bay have weakened. Hackers now employ two effective strategies to spy on Mac users.

As noted earlier, phishing is an incredibly effective tool hackers and identity thieves use to steal personal information, and it takes little effort to install spyware on a Mac if the user offers up their information willingly.

The second strategy hackers employ is through unknown downloads. With the plethora of mac applications being created, there is little doubt that the unscrupulous have been busily creating apps which could compromise a Mac’s security. For example, spyware could be part of a song download or as a browser plug-in. As soon as the user enters the password (Macs require a password before any new software installation), attacks could begin.

As with PC spyware programs, the key to the ones designed for Macs is research and more research. Prevention, detection and removal are the most important features users should be looking for. But the best defense remains vigilance. Users need to exercise caution when logging onto unfamiliar sites and downloading content that a cautious person would deem questionable.

Simply relying on Mac’s well-earned reputation for security is no longer enough.