2010 a ‘busy year’ for Mac security threats

A variety of new threats targeting Mac users emerged last year, with a significant number of Mac OS X threats rearing their ugly heads.

An Intego report has looked back at thre various threats affecting Apple technology, which are often believed to be inherently more secure than other systems.

For instance, there was the HellRTS piece of malware, which ooened a backdoor to allow remote users to take control of infected Macs.

Spyware affecting Macs was also spotted last year, such as OpinionSpy, a tool that was designed to collect data on users browsing habits.

It was not intended to be malicious, Intego explained, but it contained features that could open backdoors and inject code into applications.

The security company also picked up on a Mac version of the Koobface worm.

Whilst Mac OS X is more secure than Windows, Intego said, the Apple operating system still has its flaws.

Last year, Apple issued 38 security updates for Mac OS X, Apple software and company hardware.

"Apple has to constantly keep on its toes to issue several dozen security updates each year, to Mac OS X in general, as well as to specific parts of Mac OS X that are often found to contain vulnerabilities," the Intego report read.

A Panda Security report from last year discovered Mac OS vulnerabilities had skyrocketed.

Indeed, threats affecting the Apple OS had increased by over five times in less than a year.