IBM's X-Force Trend and Risk Report says browser exploits and BYOD continue to pose challenges and it warned that OS X attacks are getting more sophisticated. IBM hopes the findings will give enterprises a better perspective on the dangers they face particularly as Apple fanboys lean on them to allow their shiny toys to operate on mission critical business networks. The advice would appear to be to tell the Apple fanboys where to stick their toys.

The report is drawn from IBM's database of more than 68,000 vulnerabilities, and real-time monitoring--performed on behalf of 4,000 clients in 130 countries and from 15 billion daily Web events. Mac threats have not only increased in volume but also in sophistication and now rival those usually seen on Windows platforms, even though they are a tiny percentage of the total computer market.

Windows exploits are still more numerous, but the report "is not about infection rates" so much as using "technical attributes of the malware" to extrapolate how attacks might evolve. There was strong parity last year between Windows and OS X but cited malware releases such as Crisis and Flashback as evidence that "an increasing worldwide user base, as well as attention from the security research community" has made Apple's computers "a desirable target."