Half a million Mac computers 'infected with malware

[Poke]

Just goes to show nothing is bug free especially Apples..

BBC News - Half a million Mac computers 'infected with malware'

 

[lparsons21]

Only an idiot would think that Macs are immune, but they are a bit more difficult to infect.

And this story, as well as virtually all the others when it comes to malware, is sourced from an Anti-virus software producer. I've not yet seen a single posting in the many discussion groups I read in, from anyone that has actually seen it in the wild. That's not to say it hasn't got into the wild, but it does make me question the 'half a million' number.

 

[jayn_j]

It also ignores the fact that Apple is very aggressive at pushing updates. The article stated that Apple posted a fix quite some time ago, so I seriously doubt there are a large number of machines that are still infected.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

This is what mashable has on it.

Mac Flash Trojan: Find Out If You're Infected and What to Do About It

I looked, nothing suspicious there.

 

[lparsons21]

So far, all the ones that have gotten out further than just some security software firms website have all come from 'questionable' sites. Porn, torrents and other less than legal or marginally legal spots on the web.

 

[mperdue]

The only malware that I'm finding on my iMac is associated with Windows programs that I run via Parallels.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The only malware that I'm finding on my iMac is associated with Windows programs that I run via Parallels.

I was actually concerned about that, but in theory the malware should stay within the VM; and if it gets bad you could just delete it.

 

[Ilya]

It also ignores the fact that Apple is very aggressive at pushing updates. The article stated that Apple posted a fix quite some time ago, so I seriously doubt there are a large number of machines that are still infected.

Not in this particular case: Apple has only released the Java patch this week, while Windows, Linux and Unix Java updates were released back on February 14.
Apple patches Java hole that was being used to compromise Mac users | Naked Security

 

[Ilya]

For those who haven't installed this Java update yet: make sure to run the Software Update right away! This is critical.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[rockymtnhigh]

NYTimes has a story on is.

Widespread Virus Proves Macs Are No Longer Safe From Hackers - NYTimes.com


But once again all the data comes from antivirus folks, and no actually reports of it in the wild. I have to say this whole thing sounds fishy.

 

[Neutron]

That means Macs are getting more popular.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I fully understand that, but I find the lack of "in the wild" evidence to be quite suspicious. Maybe a mountain out of a mole-hill type story.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that malware and macs are possible, but the data quoted in these stories is not very persuasive, given the self-interested sources.

 

[lparsons21]

I've turned off Java in my browser and have been running that way for a few days. I've yet to go to a site that seems to want to use it. I'm starting to wonder why I installed Java to begin with.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I've turned off Java in my browser and have been running that way for a few days. I've yet to go to a site that seems to want to use it. I'm starting to wonder why I installed Java to begin with.

Alas, the university's course management system uses it, so I am kind of stuck on that one.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

From a macworld piece, excerpted from computerworld (yeah, even these magazines steal from each other):

Security experts: 600,000-plus estimate of Mac botnet likely on target | Macworld

I thought this part was interesting.

"We are not sure that all 500K [of the Flashback bots] are Mac users," said Aleks Gostov, a chief security expert with Kaspersky, in a message on Twitter on Thursday. "I have some suspicions that probably bots for Windows [are] also present."

Gostov seemed to base his opinion on the fact that Windows machines provide a GUID (globally unique identifier), Microsoft's implementation of the UUID standard. If Doctor Web wasn't able to correctly parse the hexadecimal string that represents the GUID/UUID, the Russian firm may have counted Windows PCs among the 600,000-plus it thinks are Mac machines.

 

[Neutron]

I ran the two scripts that FoxNews had a link for and neither location on my Mac had any indication of infection. Then again I use private browsing in Firefox so I wouldn't expect anything malicious to download.

 

[TNGTony]

Now that mac has taken a larger market share, you will find more and more and more viruses directed towards that platform. Mac isn't immune to viruses and malware. Up until very recently there weren't enough Mac users to make it worth the hacker's while. That is changing now thanks to the Iphone and Ipad.
Security experts: 600,000-plus estimate of Mac botnet likely on target | Macworld

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Now that mac has taken a larger market share, you will find more and more and more viruses directed towards that platform. Mac isn't immune to viruses and malware. Up until very recently there weren't enough Mac users to make it worth the hacker's while. That is changing now thanks to the Iphone and Ipad.
Security experts: 600,000-plus estimate of Mac botnet likely on target | Macworld

I included that link above, but it also suggested the numbers may be inaccurate.

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[Neutron]

I'll still take a Mac over a Windows box any day.

 

[TNGTony]

Hope you guys realize I wasn't making aspersions on the Mac. Though it isn't my favorite, I use Macs every day at work and have grown to tolerate the differences.

I was simply stating a reality. Up until very recently, Macs had about 8-10% market share, Until just before the I phone came out the market share was slowly dropping. So hackers weren't very interested in the platform. Now that Mac has a substantially larger market share and growing, the hackers are beginning to take notice and starting to target some of the malware to the Mac platform, especially now that Mac is using the same engine as Windows machines.

The claim that many mac users would throw out, that Macs were immune to viruses was one I would always refute. It is easy to be immune when you aren't being targeted. That is what is changing now.