so looks like we are now going to have to waste money on antivirus now lol
Begin forwarded message: > From: "Peter Beasley" <[email protected]> > Subject: [access-uk] Mac virus article from The Daily Mail > Date: 6 April 2012 12:10:14 GMT+01:00 > To: <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > > 'Rude awakening' for Mac users as cyber attack infects 550,000 of Apple's > 'virus free' machines - > with UK and U.S. worst hit > > Trojan has compromised 550,000 machines, claims Russian security firm > Attack is 'rude awakening' for Mac users > Cyber threat infects machines via any of four million infected web pages > By Rob Waugh > PUBLISHED: 10:11, 5 April 2012 | UPDATED: 09:22, 6 April 2012 > > A new computer trojan has infected 550,000 machines running Apple's Mac OS X > - and many could still > be vulnerable. > > The infected machines are now part of a 'botnet' of zombie machines which can > be controlled by cyber > criminals and 'told' to download new malicious software. > > The attack has been described as a 'rude awakening' for Mac users. > > The attack has afflicted machines in America and the UK worst, according to > Russian security vendor > Dr Web's statistics > The new attack was spotted by Russian anti-virus vendor Dr Web. > 'We conducted research to determine the scale of spreading of Trojan > BackDoor.Flashback that infects > computers running Mac OS X,' says the Russian antivirus vendor. > > 'The botnet encompasses more than 550 000 infected machines, most of which > are located in the United > States and Canada. > > 'This once again refutes claims by some experts that there are no > cyber-threats to Mac OS X.' > Many Mac users believe that the system is 'immune' to viruses and trojans - > but in reality hackers > rarely choose to write viruses that afflict Macs, simply because there are > relatively few Macs > compared to the huge number of machines that run Windows. > > Hackers want their attacks to spread rapidly, so they usually target the OS > that offers the most > potential 'victims'. > > Describing the attack as a 'rude awakening' for Mac OS X users, blogger > Adrian Sanabria said, > 'Despite what Apple's marketing department would have you believe, Macs are > not invulnerable to > attacks and malware targeting OS X does exist.' > > The attack works using a vulnerability in Java, and is delivered via infected > web pages. > Just visiting the web pages is enough to infect a machine, downloading a file > which then downloads > further malicious software from elsewhere. > > Dr Web claims that more than four million web pages are infected with the > trojan. > > 'Over 550 000 infected machines running Mac OS X have been a part of the > botnet on April 4,' says Dr > Web. 'These only comprise a segment of the botnet set up by means of the > particular > BackDoor.Flashback modification. Most infected computers reside in the United > States (56.6%, or > 303,449 infected hosts), Canada comes second (19.8%, or 106,379 infected > computers), the third place > is taken by the United Kingdom (12.8% or 68,577 cases of infection) and > Australia with 6.1% (32,527 > infected hosts) is the fourth.' > > Read more: > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2125496/Apple-computers-infected-Flashback-Trojan-virus-rude-awakening-Mac-users.html > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature > database 7032 (20120406) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe] > ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > ** [email protected] > ** and in the Subject line type > ** unsubscribe > ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the > ** immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:[email protected]?subject=faq] > ** or send a message, to > ** [email protected] with the Subject:- faq > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to [email protected] You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free! Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
