“Russian security firm Dr Web warns that at least 600,000 Macs are infected and part of a growing bonnet,” Ed Oswald reports for ExtremeTech. “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,” Oswald reports. “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.”
Oswald reports, “The Flashback Trojan is the culprit here, but is nothing new. The Trojan first appeared disguised as a Flash installer last September, and disabled Mac OS X’s built in malware protections. This version makes its way into Macs through a Java vulnerability, and is loaded onto unpatched Macs without interaction from the user.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple on Tuesday released Java for OS X 2012-001. It is available via Software Update and also via standalone installers for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (more info here) and OS X 10.7 Lion (more info here).
Read more in the full article here.
To check your Mac (a clean Mac will deliver the message “does not exist”) follow F-Secure’s instructions here.
Related articles:
OS X trojan variant preys on Mac users with unpatched Java – February 27, 2012
Warning: Flashback Trojan horse spreading; Mac users should be wary of Flash installers – September 28, 2011
Apple updates OS X Lion, Snow Leopard malware definitions to address new trojan – September 26, 2011
