Spyware Threats

Yet Another Mac OS X Infection Spotted in the Wild

First piece of rogue security software targeting Mac systems

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

1st of April 2008, 07:54 GMT

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Mac OS X has always been regarded as a secure operating system which cannot be attacked by viruses, Trojan horses, malware or other infections since

most of them are focused on compromising Microsoft's Windows. However, it may seem like the rogue security products have evolved a little bit and are now attempting to trick Mac OS X users into buying fake security software which is actually useless.

Just like the Windows-based infections, the Trojan horse identified by Sophos as Troj/MacSwp-B displays fake security warnings, encouraging users to buy the full version of the program. Obviously, acquiring such a product is useless since the alerts are nothing more than fakes...

"Windows users are no stranger to scareware like this, but it is rarer on the Apple Macintosh. Nevertheless MacSwp-B's discovery does follow fast on the heels of other malware that has been identitifed on the Mac OS X platform in recent months," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"Cybercrime against Mac users may be small in comparison to Windows attacks, but it is growing. Apple Macintosh users need to learn from the mistakes made by their Windows cousins in the past and ensure that they have defenses in place, are up-to-date with patches and exercise caution about what they run on their computer."

What's interesting is that more and more threats are now targeting Mac computers, although most of them are based on users' naivety. Remember that DNS-changer malware spotted some months ago? It was somehow a similar threat because it required users' authorization in order to deploy its files on the affected Mac. Although the damages caused by the malware were quite ignorable (it changed the DNS settings and obviously damaged the network connections), it was a clear sign that extra-care is recommended even when using a Mac.

TAGS:

security | mac | trojan

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