WHEN youth worker Donna Wong, 31, bought her Apple PowerBook two years ago, she thought she was safe from malware attacks.
And she was, until a month ago.
Unknown to her, her laptop began sending out spam to friends via her online messaging service.
Said Miss Wong: "I didn't even know until a friend alerted me. I thought Mac computers don't get viruses."
More Apple computer users like Miss Wong are increasingly vulnerable to malicious attacks.
Spammers will target them as Apple's market share increases, warned IT security firm Sophos in its report yesterday.
And Singaporeans who own the Apple iPhone 3G as well as those who want to get the first Google Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, are also not exempt.
Mr Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, told my paper: "We expect more malware writers to target these two mobile platforms as they achieve critical mass."
Barely a few days after the G1 was launched in the United States, a security vulnerability in its web browser was reported in The New York Times in October.
The phone is rumoured among netizens to hit Singapore in the first half of next year.
Since the first financially-motivated malware targeted Mac computers late last year, no fewer than four attempts by hackers to infect Apple computers were discovered this year, according to Sophos.
And while the iPhone has not yet been the target of a significant attack, malware disguised as iPhone applications have already emerged.
Most Singaporeans my paper spoke to wanted to know what they could do to avoid the increasing threat posed by spam.
Miss Wong asked: "It's so widespread now. How do we protect ourselves?"
