Sophos White Paper Sample

The current threat
The sheer number of desktops, laptops, and servers running Windows makes them an easy and readily available target for malware writers and spammers. Assessment of an organization’s requirements for protection against viruses, spyware, Trojans, and worms has therefore tended to concentrate on the Windows environment. Meanwhile, the network security risk arising from unprotected non-Windows computers has sometimes been downplayed or overlooked altogether.

The need to protect the gateway from malicious code -- whatever the operating system -- is pretty well accepted. However, acceptance is not clear-cut over endpoint protection, as most malware continues to target Windows platforms, with only a tiny proportion being created specifically for Mac and Linux platforms.

The fact that most malware continues to be written for Windows computers encourages the argument that investment in protection for non-Windows computers at the endpoint is unnecessary. So why, then, is it important for organizations to protect non-Windows computers?