14 DAY TRIAL // The ESET Rootkit Detector for Mac OS X is available for download, ESET announced on Monday.
Rootkits can be highly problematic for users because these threats are designed to hide themselves on the infected device by hooking into system functions. While rootkits are mainly designed to target Windows users, ESET highlights the fact that OS X malware, such as Crisis, has also been seen using rootkit techniques.
The ESET Rootkit Detector is designed to detect the possible changes made by a rootkit to the OS X kernel memory. If a threat is identified, users can send a report back to ESET to help the company improve its Anti-Rootkit capabilities.
It’s worth noting that users will be prompted for administrator privileges when executing the application because a special extension is needed to detect the changes made to kernel. Furthermore, ESET doesn’t recommend running it on production equipment since it’s still in beta.