Smug's Not A Bug, It's A Feature, Too

"With 2 million iPhones and iPod Touches, it makes sense they will think of them as an evolving market to exploit, and there are a lot of new Mac users who aren't as savvy as Mac's earlier users," said CEO Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software, which sells security software for Windows machines.

But Carl Howe, an Apple analyst at Blackfriars Communications, disputes the security researchers' theories. He thinks that OS X's Linux heritage makes Apple systems less vulnerable to attack than Windows-based platforms. He argues that even if hacking Macs hasn't been profitable in the past, attackers would have done it anyway if they'd been able -- just for the attention.

Please observe --and beware-- the attitude of that analyst for Macs. In his mind, hackers design malware strictly aimed at embarrassing Microsoft and just to get attention. No real criminal wants any attention of any kind. He wants to steal your information and money for as long as possible without detection. This attitude is exactly why Apple users are facing a serious threat. They have been made to feel invulnerable, and are encouraged to continue feeling that way by "experts" like him. Any criminal would jump at the chance to find a large group of potential victims that feel they can press any button with a little Apple on it with impunity. To a criminal, smug's not a bug, it's a feature of the Mac user.