Viruses for windows...

[velious]

It seems that most viruses (worms) that come out are targeted at windows...I have not yet found a worm that goes after linux/unix/or mac computers... Why are those OS' safer from worms?

it just seems to me that alot of people (the ones that write worms) hate windows...I would like to know why...I personally dont see whats wrong with it..if any.

[liorean]

Two reasons:
- Microsoft has too many interdependencies between different parts of their software, too much interaction without security and privacy checking, and tends to be opt-out instead of opt-in as the other systems are. Microsoft also have very large user base and quite a large "public enemy" status among the people who are able to write computer viri.
- Worms, trojans and backdoors are mostly targetted at the user and not so much at servers, so it makes little sense in targetting a small platform such as mac, or a platform where most people are quite security aware, such as *nix. Windows has a large number of users that don't understand that they are entirely open to attacks, why they are that, or how to stop being it. A prime target in both size and exposability, that is.




However, the *nix systems are not void of viri and exploits either (sendmail is a good example of an old application that does too much and is therefore very prone to exploits and security holes) and such a system set up by a person that has no previous experience in *nix security will probably have quite a few holes in it that the person setting it up is entirely unaware of. Mac has far lower number of exploits and viri than either, but that is probably because of it's status as mostly a user targetted system and traditionally being not so much of a server platform, coupled by the fact that Mac is traditionally a poor network computer (not any longer, though).