500,000 Infected Macs

[sholling]

I didn't see this posted anywhere.

Link

Doctor Web, the Russian anti-virus company has concluded this week that over 500,000 Mac computers are infected with the BackDoor.Flashback trojan and are now part of a botnet.
Most of the Mac OS X devices infected are in Canada and the U.S and should refute the claim of Apple fans that Macs cannot be hit by malware.

Link 2

Apple has now issued the second software update this week in order to patch the vulnerability in Java software that allowed the malware to spread to up to 600,000 Mac computers.

Intego, maker of Mac security software, said the malware, known as Flashback, has “changed greatly from its first incarnation. Initially a fake Adobe Flash installer (hence the name Flashback), it later changed to impersonate a Software Update dialog, before using Java vulnerabilities to install.”

Once installed, the malware can be used by criminals to steal personal information, including passwords.

Link 3

Russian security firm Dr Web warns that at least 600,000 Macs are infected and part of a growing botnet, further disputing the notion that Mac OS X is free of malware. 76% of these Macs are located in the US and Canada, with another 13% in the UK.

Possibly more embarrassing for Apple is the fact that 274 infected computers are located in Cupertino, California, which may indicate Macs belonging to Apple employees or even on the company’s campus might be infected. Mac users are advised to ensure their Macs are up-to-date to prevent infection, and some four million compromised web pages are believed to exist, including portions of DLink’s website, Dr Web claims.

[imtheomegaman]

Not going to get into a tit for tat here, but I've been involved with Macintosh computers for quite some time now, and I don't recall anyone claiming "Macs cannot be hit by malware". Only that they are obviously far less likely to be.

[Merc1138]

Not going to get into a tit for tat here, but I've been involved with Macintosh computers for quite some time now, and I don't recall anyone claiming "Macs cannot be hit by malware". Only that they are obviously far less likely to be.

I'm not going to say you made the claim, but I hear that line of BS out of mac fanboys(note that I didn't type "users")on a regular basis.

[JDay]

Not going to get into a tit for tat here, but I've been involved with Macintosh computers for quite some time now, and I don't recall anyone claiming "Macs cannot be hit by malware". Only that they are obviously far less likely to be.

Mac people claim that they are immune all the time, that's the #1 reason given when asked why they have a Mac. You have no idea how many Mac users I know who think anti-virus/malware programs are worthless on a Mac. Hell, Apple even tells them this.

http://www.apple.com/why-mac/better-os/#viruses

With virtually no effort on your part, OS X defends against viruses and other malicious applications, or malware. For example, it thwarts hackers through a technique called “sandboxing” — restricting what actions programs can perform on your Mac, what files they can access, and what other programs they can launch. With FileVault 2, your data is safe and secure — even if it falls into the wrong hands. FileVault 2 encrypts the entire drive on your Mac, protecting your data with XTS-AESW 128 encryption. Initial encryption is fast and unobtrusive. It can also encrypt any removable drive, helping you secure Time Machine backups or other external drives with ease. Other automatic security features include Library Randomization, which prevents malicious commands from finding their targets, and Execute Disable, which protects the memory in your Mac from attacks.

FYI, Windows Vista/7 have those same features. And Execute Disable is a CPU instruction.

ETA: And lets not forget this commercial campaign.

[I_Love_My_.38]

A anti viri company making claims to expand on to other platforms?

[sholling]

I posted it to warn Mac users not to rub their noses in it. BTW the number is 600,000 as of today.

Anyway hopefully the word gets out and no calgunners have infected machines.

Edit:

A anti viri company making claims to expand on to other platforms?

It's been independently confirmed.

Link 1

A second source has now confirmed previously reported research: at least 600,000 Macs worldwide are infected with the Flashback malware downloader. That’s a staggering number, representing about 1% of the installed base of Macs. So what’s next?

Link 2

For anyone who doubted that Apple’s long grace period with cybercriminals is over, doubt no more: On Friday, researchers at Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky confirmed findings from another security firm earlier this week that more than 600,000 computers running Mac’s OSX are infected with the Flashback botnet, and half of those machines are in the United States.

Kaspersky’s researchers reverse-engineered the Flashback malware and created a fake “command and control” server for collection of hijacked PCs, intercepting and analyzing their connections. As they’ve detailed in a blog post, they were able to map out the machines’ locations: 300,000 in the U.S., 95,000 in the Canada, 47,000 in the United Kingdom, and 42,000 in Australia, for instance.

[Rivers]

As a longtime member of a large Mac user group, I'm well aware of how many Mac users feel about malware. Our membership has not buried its collective head in the sand, pretending that their Macs are not vulnerable to malware. In fact, we even had a presentation from ESET over a year ago to explore the threats and ESET's anti-malware Mac software. (Good stuff BTW.) Macs have had an advantage over PC's in that there were fewer Macs, therefore fewer targets. However, the cyberthieves have since realized that demographically, Mac users are a more affluent target group. Kind of like, "Why hunt a thousand rabbits when a single buffalo will provide more meat?" So the threat not only exists but is growing. Yet the most common mistake that exposes one to being a victim is USER carelessness, like entering info into an insecure website or responding to phishing.

BTW, a quick tip about phishing. If you think it's a fake - but might be real, when the site wants you to log in, do so but use what you are sure is a wrong password. If it accepts it, it's fake. And make sure that all of your real passwords include both an uppercase, lowercase, number and symbol, like Ca1gun$!. And protect your passwords from prying eyes! Do not use the same password universally either.

FWIW, doing some IT as well, I've seen MANY PC users who continue to run their Windows computers without any malware protection. I had trouble believing that a decade ago yet it's still true today. Just amazing. I guess when you bury your head in the sand, there is no danger - until it kicks you in the behind.

[LAL6]

Oops, I had a flash update a few days ago. Is that bad?

[Californio]

MacScan finds it. I run it weekly.

[chris]

Not going to get into a tit for tat here, but I've been involved with Macintosh computers for quite some time now, and I don't recall anyone claiming "Macs cannot be hit by malware". Only that they are obviously far less likely to be.

I'm not going to say you made the claim, but I hear that line of BS out of mac fanboys(note that I didn't type "users")on a regular basis.

i have heard the same. in fact an instructor at the school i'm at right now made the claim that macs can't be infected said that to me the day before the article hit. MAC users think they can't be infected is wrong. when hackers and virus writers start to target MAC nothing is safe anymore.

MAC cannot be infected by PC viruses and malware but when written for MAC it's another ball game.

[Merc1138]

i have heard the same. in fact an instructor at the school i'm at right now made the claim that macs can't be infected said that to me the day before the article hit. MAC users think they can't be infected is wrong. when hackers and virus writers start to target MAC nothing is safe anymore.

MAC cannot be infected by PC viruses and malware but when written for MAC it's another ball game.

There are more people writing virii, malware, trojans, etc. for OSX due to Apple's own marketing and the false sense of security. Sure they might only have 5-10% of the market, but that small market share is largely unprotected from anything.

Security through obscurity alone is never a good idea.

[ocabj]

I've been wondering out of all those Mac hosts hit by this trojan, how many of those are actually utilizing the JRE for anything.

I never use the JRE on my OS X workstations for anything except for when I need to access the GUI interface of a blackbox appliance that needs a Java applet/client running on my host machine. But then we finally phased all of those appliances out (either got rid of the appliance or upgraded it's software with something that has a web based interface).

I don't do any dev in Java and the closest thing to Java I personally have my hand in is Apache Tomcat which I only run in Solaris or Linux.

[repubconserv]

I know Macs can be hit by viruses, to all the Mac haters here is a quick breakdown of my houses computers.

My sisters hp laptop 8 months old, runs Malwarebytes free version, and has already had +-10 viruses and assorted malware, two of which have been the dirty buggers that block all application access. start up time has increased greatly and the computer is soooo slow.

My moms dell computer 7 years old, runs malwarebytes free, numerous cases of malware, and one clean install XP. still slow as heck

My dell desktop, 5 years old (Vista), runs Malwarebytes free, numerous cases of malware

My mackbook pro, 1.5 years old, runs free anti virus (cant even remember what it is), no malware whatsoever. still as fast as the day I got it... Imma stick with Mac

[glock 357]

Use a less popular operating system like BEOS. IDK about Java but I've never been a fan.

A solution may be to run Untangle on a PC and use it as a router. Block all the crap at the entry point before it hits your pc.

[coq]

Are you clean?

Here is an article outlining the situation and offering a way to check your rig in Terminal utility.