News 

Although there are more than 60 known Mac-specific viruses, they barely register in users' experiences. In fact during the past six months, the most commonly reported Mac virus accounted for just 0.16 per cent of recorded infections and at number 78 in Sophos' chart of top viruses.

Sophos says this has nothing to do with any inherent security advantage of the Mac OS.

'Despite their cool designer looks,

ADVERTISEMENT

Apple Macs are failing to capture interest amongst the counter-culture which writes viruses,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. 'It's perfectly possible to write viruses for Apple Macs. Indeed, a Mac has no more inherent security than a PC, but virus writers appear to be motivated by a desire to cause widespread havoc and so have concentrated on the market leader.'

However Macs can be used as a conduit for mass mailing worms and pass them on unknowingly to Windows using friends or colleagues.

'Mass-mailing worms spread via the internet, forwarding themselves on to every email address they can find,' said Cluley. 'Worms don't know when they launch themselves whether they are being sent to an email address belonging to a PC or a Mac user. Many Mac users have found that their email inboxes are being filled up with PC worms which - although can do no harm on the Mac - are a nuisance to delete or may be manually forwarded on to unsuspecting PC colleagues.'