Setting The Virus Record Straight: Debunking The Market Share Myth

As Apple continues its slow and steady rise in popularity with consumers, more and more self-appointed security experts on blogs and various tech publications are talking about how the Mac’s operating system, OS X, is not any more inherently secure or safe from viruses and malware than Windows is. The flimsy rationale for this statement (which more often than not comes without any factual support) is that because the Mac’s market share is so small relative to Windows, creators of malware have no interest. Those evil hackers would prefer to get more bang from their coding buck, so to speak, by targeting the largest audience possible with their malware.

Not only is there no evidence to support this assertion, but there actually exists a lot of evidence that counters it. And while I may agree that there is a tiny grain of truth to this argument, it’s not the whole story, not by a long shot. There are many other factors beyond market share that influence a computer platform’s chances of getting viruses or having security exploits.

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NoSmokingBandit said:

Arguing about this is pointless. The Market Share Theory cannot be proved nor disproved until Apple and OS X has over 90% of the market like MS does. Until then we are all just saying whatever we feel like based on whatever speculation we've already decided we agree with.

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