Apple users lose some immunity to cybercrime

Fake security software was the No. 1 cybersecurity woe afflicting computer users in 2009, and Apple users lost some of their immunity to cybercrime as they stored more data online instead of on hard drives, according to the cybersecurity firm Symantec.

In a report released on Tuesday, Symantec noted that Brazil had risen to third place in the list of countries with "malicious activity," defined as spam, online scam attempts and other types of cybercrime. The United States remained in first place at 19 percent, with China second at 8 percent, and Brazil third at 6 percent. Conficker -- a malicious software program all over the news last April -- and sophisticated attacks on websites of Google Inc and other large companies in December and reported in January were the most publicized cyber events of the year. But the single most prevalent form of cybercrime was fake security software, which computer users normally see as a flashing notice that their computer is infected with a virus, said Vincent Weafer, a Symantec vice president.