20 years of innovative Windows malware

Windows PCs have been under siege for 20 years. What a difference those two decades make.

Back when Windows was young, viruses scampered from system to system, occasionally deleting files -- which could almost always be retrieved -- and putting up dialog boxes with inscrutable contents, like the numeral 1. Nowadays, Windows malware locks up your data and holds it for ransom. It manipulates your PC into launching attacks, mines files for credit card numbers and passwords, and sets nuclear centrifuges to whirl with wild abandon -- nasty stuff.

New Trojan targets the Mac, while Apple finally reaches out to security pros

Apple iTunes accounts hacked as more rogue developers emerge