A Web poll of more than 350 computer users, conducted by Sophos, in the shadow of the discovery of the first financially motivated malware for Mac OS X, has revealed that 93 percent believe Apple Macintoshes will be targeted more in future. However, half of those polled said they did not believe the problem would be as great as that faced by users of Microsoft Windows.

The survey results, which are revealed in a Sophos podcast entitled "Big Mac attack or super-sized hype?" show that Apple Mac users are becoming less optimistic about the likelihood of their computers being attacked in future. A similar survey two years ago, found only 79 percent believed that Macintosh computers would become more commonly targeted by hackers.

"Although we have seen the first attempts by criminal gangs to make money through Mac OS X malware, the fact of that matter is that there is only a tiny number of viruses and Trojan horses for Apple Macs when compared to Windows PCs. It seems unlikely that the Mac virus problem will ever be as big as the Windows one," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Yes, the Macintosh malware threat is a concern -- but it's important to put it in perspective."