Half a million Mac computers 'infected with malware

[Hall]

Mind you, anytime the media hypes something, I tend to go into "ignore" mode. Same thing with this.... I checked our machines (Macs) at work and all is well.

It was interesting to read the backlash from Apple towards "Dr Web". Apple had their domain shut down (the one Dr Web set up as a "honeypot" type machine for tracking this), claiming it was "malicious".

 

[meStevo]

At least 1 confirmed case of the E variant at work. Next.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[lparsons21]

Wow! One whole confirmed case?

 

[TNGTony]

Flashback botnet infects 41,600 Australian Macs - security, kaspersky lab, flashback, apple mac - CIO

Apple's security code of silence: a big problem - Security Software

http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2067

According to the last link, 2% of all Mac users have been infected so far.

I would say this qualifies as "In the wild" reports.

 

[meStevo]

Wow! One whole confirmed case?

If you read the thread instead of jumping at a chance to troll you'd see that one confirmed case is what rocky asked me for.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[rockymtnhigh]

At least 1 confirmed case of the E variant at work. Next.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

You mean at your work?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

If you read the thread instead of jumping at a chance to troll you'd see that one confirmed case is what rocky asked me for.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Aw, come on... he isn't trolling. Just joking about the fact that "one" incident has been found by one of us (assuming that is what you meant).

Peace out. Certainly not worth fighting over.

 

[charper1]

Does anyone read up on the Pwn2Own project/contest? I mean come on; nearly everyone gets hacked. Hell, in 2011 Apple was either the 1st or 2nd to go down and in other years its flip-flopped. I wouldn't bank too much into who you think is and isn't "safe" as no one is. It boils down to what I can't and can't do with my machine and the software that's readily available for it VS the costs of the machine. And that still goes to a WIN- PC in my opinion.

 

[JamesJ]

seems to be though apple is leading the charge as of late in vulnerabilities

Apple Suffers More Vulnerabilities Than Google, Microsoft, Adobe In Last Quarter | Cult of Mac

edit: Ios isnt included in this, this is mac only.

 

[Foxbat]

How many Mac users are practicing "Safe Computing" and using a non-Admin user account for their day-to-day activities? I'm willing to bet it's still way too many. Not that do so guarantees that you can't be infected, but it does minimize the chance that your Mac OS will be compromised by an exploit.

Trojans will always be an issue if the social engineering passes muster. Drive By attacks are the popular way of getting an unknowing user to "update" their Flash or other plug-in. It's amazing the number of ordinary web sites that want to run some Flash app, even ones without "flashy" design elements.

 

[Neutron]

Like with any Unix OS the Mac OS requires that you enter in your user account password when installing any software. That alone should cut down on infections.

 

[John Kotches]

Like with any Unix OS the Mac OS requires that you enter in your user account password when installing any software. That alone should cut down on infections.

Are you sure about that? I can install any software I want without a challenge on my Linux and Solaris boxes as long as they don't require a chown to a different uid or a write to a directory for which they lack write permissions. Even then it's a failure, and run with sudo.

I don't recall needing a password on my wife's MBA either but honestly I wasn't paying much attention.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Are you sure about that? I can install any software I want without a challenge on my Linux and Solaris boxes as long as they don't require a chown to a different uid or a write to a directory for which they lack write permissions. Even then it's a failure, and run with sudo.

I don't recall needing a password on my wife's MBA either but honestly I wasn't paying much attention.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

By default OSX requires an admin password to make any changes. Even to update existing software.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[amolac]

It sure became a big news when the line of Apple computers were hit with a possible malware intrusion. But good thing the damage control was there to help the people test on their own how they were affected or not.

Though I think it would be just one of those desperate bids by people to bring the company down and cause so hiatus between the ranks of loyal users to possibly doubt how they will see their future with the brand.

 

[Neutron]

Are you sure about that? I can install any software I want without a challenge on my Linux and Solaris boxes as long as they don't require a chown to a different uid or a write to a directory for which they lack write permissions. Even then it's a failure, and run with sudo.

I don't recall needing a password on my wife's MBA either but honestly I wasn't paying much attention.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

Even when I have played with the different flavors of Linux I still had to enter in the root password to install anything.

 

[Hall]

If the software can install all it's necessary files in ~, will it prompt for permission / password ? I don't think it will.

 

[mperdue]

I wonder how many Windows PC's are infected with malware right now...

 

[JAG72]

Even when I have played with the different flavors of Linux I still had to enter in the root password to install anything.

Root is not always needed. IMO only poorly written apps require root for installation.

 

[Neutron]

Root is not always needed. IMO only poorly written apps require root for installation.

Yeah, but I will bet that Linux will not allow any software to change any system files though without root....

 

[Hall]

Yeah, but I will bet that Linux will not allow any software to change any system files though without root....

All Posix-based systems will operate the same way in regards to this. Linux isn't special or more secure than the others.