Dynaverse.net
Off Topic => Ten Forward => Topic started by: Fedman NCC-3758 on April 05, 2012, 08:52:49 pm
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Half a million Mac computers 'infected with malware'
More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm.
Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware - potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a "botnet".
The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US.
Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.
Flashback was first detected last September when anti-virus researchers flagged up software masquerading itself as a Flash Player update. Once downloaded it deactivated some of the computer's security software.
Later versions of the malware exploited weaknesses in the Java programming language to allow the code to be installed from bogus sites without the user's permission.
Remote control
Dr Web said that once the Trojan was installed it sent a message to the intruder's control server with a unique ID to identify the infected machine.
"By introducing the code criminals are potentially able to control the machine," the firm's chief executive Boris Sharov told the BBC.
"We stress the word potential as we have never seen any malicious activity since we hijacked the botnet to take it out of criminals' hands. However, we know people create viruses to get money.
"The largest amounts of bots - based on the IP addresses we identified - are in the US, Canada, UK and Australia, so it appears to have targeted English-speaking people."
Dr Web also notes that 274 of the infected computers it detected appeared to be located in Cupertino, California - home to Apple's headquarters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17623422 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17623422)
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Any security made by man can be broken by man. Especially when man is part of the security.
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600,00 Macs??!!
Wow that's like nearly 1% of the number of infected PCs globally....
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600,00 Macs??!!
Wow that's like nearly 1% of the number of infected PCs globally....
600,000 Mac's is a good sized percentage of the installed base and also negates the old Mac user saying that they do not have to worry about viruses like PC users have to.
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and also negates the old Mac user saying that they do not have to worry about viruses like PC users have to.
Trojan, not a virus. It gets YOU to install it whereas a virus installs itself.
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and also negates the old Mac user saying that they do not have to worry about viruses like PC users have to.
Trojan, not a virus. It gets YOU to install it whereas a virus installs itself.
I was talking in more generic terms, the end effect is the same.
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and also negates the old Mac user saying that they do not have to worry about viruses like PC users have to.
Trojan, not a virus. It gets YOU to install it whereas a virus installs itself.
I was talking in more generic terms, the end effect is the same.
How you get there is important. If your house is robbed after you left the door wide open you don't blame the lock for being vulnerable you blame yourself (or should).
This is not a vulnerability in the Mac but in computer users.
Note: I have never used an Apple computer.
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True, this was spread in the same manner as the "business x has locked your account for suspicious activity, click here to log in" scams.