Security firm Sophos, has compiled a study, ranking online malware threats in the first half of this year. According to SophosLabs, Trojan Horses are on the rise in the detriment of viruses and worms. This translates into a shift in online criminal activities toward information theft. User data related to online transactions have been especially targeted as Trojan surpass viruses and worms by a percentage of four to one. Sophos also found that most vulnerable to attack are users of the Windows operating system with its various versions and has suggested that the Mac OS is a more secure environment and that a switch should be considered carefully.

The Sober-Z worm is at the top of the 2006 malware threats, followed by Netsky-P. In third place came Zafi-B and Nyxem-D was fourth. The rest of the ranking comprises a mass of various heterogeneous threats that had little to no effect at all.

"The continuing rise of malware will concern many - the criminals responsible are obviously making money from their code, otherwise they'd give up the game," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "It's more vital than ever that all organizations use an integrated security solution to protect against intrusion, as well as blocking known and unknown malware. On top of this, hackers seem happy to primarily target Windows users and not spread their wings to other platforms. It seems likely that Macs will continue to be the safer place for computer users for some time to come - something that home users may wish to consider if they're deliberating about the next computer they should purchase."