Detect Flashback Trojan with Intego VirusBarrier X6

Intego claims to be offering “the best, and free, way to help Mac users detect the Flashback malware” - the company’s Mac antivirus, VirusBarrier X6, which offers a 30-day trial version that Mac users can download and use to check if their Macs are infected by any of the variants of the Flashback malware.

Provided that users immediately update VirusBarrier X6′s threat filters once the app is installed, the software “will detect every variant of the Flashback malware, not just the one for which detection instructions have circulated.”

It will detect other types of malware as well, according to the Austin, TX-based firm.

Intego specifically outlines in a blog post that users must “make sure to update these threat filters in NetUpdate, which is installed with VirusBarrier X6, and which manages updates to the program and its filters.” The filters will be accessible on the entire 30-day trial period, Intego says.

Unfortunately, Intego doesn’t specify whether or not the trial antivirus app actually removes the Trojan too.

However, the company makes an important note in explaining that the instructions circulating in the media to manually remove Flashback may pose risks. The reason? There are numerous versions of the Trojan, whereas the instructions offered by F-Secure only detect a single version.

“Unfortunately, this information can be misleading, because the instructions that circulate discuss just one variant of the Flashback malware. There are some two dozen variants already, each of which puts files of different names in different locations; these instructions and applications will therefore not find any but the one specific variant that they target,” Intego explains.

The security firm adds that “These instructions may instill a false sense of security in users who follow them, or who run applications that use them. A user may be told that he or she is not infected, when their Mac may actually be infected, but just by a different variant. Finally, these instructions are all the more worrisome because information on the Internet has a long life-span. Users who find this information in a month or two may still think that it is valid.”

Apple itself is working on a software tool that will not only detect the Flashback Trojan and its different variants, but it will also remove the malware from computers.

Download Intego VirusBarrier X6