As the Mac OS started gaining popularity, it also started to become a larger target for viruses. Now it seems that next gen consoles which have evolved enough to support online gaming and browsing might also attract unwanted attention from malicious programmers.

Symantec, the company behind the Norton AntiVirus Series, has recently discovered that the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3 are vulnerable to viruses and phishing attacks. Ollie Whitehouse, software architect for Symantec, explained to Tech.co.uk that they found the vulnerability by subjecting the Wii to a vulnerability found on Windows and Macs using Adobe Flash Player.

Their point was that if one platform is vulnerable, the same vulnerability will be found "to some extent" on other platforms, even consoles. Now that the consoles freely access the Internet, they are susceptible to web related problems such as viruses and phishing attacks.

Symantec pointed out that the Nintendo Wii has no protection from such malicious attacks. Whitehouse explains further: "In terms of how bad it could get, it's conceivable at least in the short term that phishing attacks could become commonplace via a games console browser. The Wii lends itself very well to that."

He also predicts that malicious code would appear within the next two years, and probably be a commonplace problem within five years. He also explains how Microsoft's Xbox 360 is likely to be more protected than the PS3 and the Wii because of security measures implemented in all games and software for the console.