If a specific operating system is going to attract the attention of hackers and cybercriminals – so that they are inspired to develop computer viruses, worms and Trojans to attack devices that are running that OS – the OS should be popular and in widespread use.
Malware popularity
If an OS is only used by very few people, it’s much less likely that the OS will be attacked. However, if usage of the OS grows – so that it achieves mass distribution – the OS will attract the attention of malware creators that will see an opportunity to gain from attacking the OS.
Popular OSs and applications… lead to popular malware
In effect, the more popular an operating system or an application is – the more often it’s likely to be prone to computer virus attacks.
The number of malicious programs created for Windows, Linux and Mac OS closely correlates to the market share that each of these operating systems has achieved.
Other factors that help malware to thrive
To discover the other factors that enable malware to thrive and survive, please click the following links:
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