Mac OS vulnerabilities skyrocket in 2010

Mac OS vulnerabilities have increased by over five times in less than a year, according to Panda Security figures.

In 2009, 34 vulnerabilities were detected in the Mac OS and thus far in 2010 this has risen to 175.

The platform can also be affected by 170,000 macro viruses for Windows, Panda said. Furthermore, there are 5,000 classified strains of malware that specifically target Apple systems.

“We would even say that today, the Windows operating system is more secure than Mac, simply because Microsoft has been working proactively on security for many years,” said Ivan Fermon, senior vice president of product management at Panda.

“As the Apple system has yet to be seriously threatened, it may contain more vulnerabilities than those we are aware of, which could be exploited to launch zero-day attacks similar to those against Windows.”

At the time of publication, Apple had not given a statement on the Panda figures.

This article originally appeared at itpro.co.uk