Apple Devices No Longer Get Free Pass From Hackers

PC World magazine's Tony Bradley reports on a study from security software firm McAfee predicting that Apple products, which were never as secure as users believed, will increasingly become targets for hack attacks. One other area of increased vulnerability will be social media sites.

"McAfee has compiled the wisdom and insight of its security researchers and produced the 2011 Threat Predictions Report. The report contains a variety of forecasts, prophecies, and educated guesses on what to expect for computer and information security next year, but one of the most notable is that Apple has achieved some level of critical mass that makes it a prime target.

Based on trends in 2010--both trends in what and how technology is used, as well as trends in attack techniques and attack volume--McAfee surveyed the evolving threat landscape and made some projections for the coming year. Those predictions include a rise in attacks focused on social networking, exploiting geolocation check-in data, and targeting mobile platforms like smartphones and tablets."