Re: This oculd be due to the popularity of windows...
Perhaps you meant "VMS and BSD", but that does undermine your argument a little. There hasn't been any DOS in Microsoft's OS products since Windows XP came out, whenever that was (I was still Mac-only in those days). The NT kernel was modelled on VMS.
I use both OSes daily. There really is no difference in privilege escalation between OSX and Windows. Processes simply cannot get above their station anymore on either OS, and must ask the user for the permissions they seek.
The vast majority of malware doesn't "crack" a system, it fools the user into handing over the keys. This is why tainted installers are so useful as a vector - users are less concerned that an application installer asks for temporary admin privilege. (MacOSX is the same as Windows here).
In my experience of cleaning up after this stuff (and a brief period working for an anti-malware company), a lot of users will accept any kind of unexpected privilege escalation if they think they're getting something for free.
Windows is still a more lucrative target than OS X, simply because Windows PCs are more likely to be in business-critical functions in small businesses. A cryptlocker in an small accountancy practice, two days before the filing deadline is way more likely to yield a payout for the malware writer.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
