Apple has fallen behind Microsoft in dealing with security problems, according to a survey by IBM researchers.

The findings were presented at the Black Hat conference on computer security in Amsterdam by researchers Stefan Frei and Bernard Tellenback, who said that Microsoft is getting better at handling security, while Apple is getting worse, Channel Register reports.

Gunter Ollman of IBM's X-Force - and a colleague of Frei and Tellenback - wrote on the computer trade website that Apple is afraid of appearing vulnerable, which makes the company less able to deal with security problems.

Mr Ollman wrote: "Apple's biggest problem seems to be that they treat every new vulnerability as a potential PR disaster rather than an opportunity to reinforce their work securing their customers."

At a hacking contest at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver last week, a security researcher won a $10,000 (£5,000) cash prize for hacking into a MacBook Air in less than two minutes, according to Computerworld today.

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