The Telegraph’s misleading headline: ‘iPad users targeted by hackers’

“Security experts have warned that Apple iPad users are being targeted by cyber criminals. Hackers are trying to dupe iPad owners in to downloading a fake iTunes update on their Windows computer, which, when installed, creates a backdoor for cyber criminals, allowing them to remotely access the machine or even use the computer to send spam messages,” Claudine Beaumont reports for The Telegraph under the misleading headline, “iPad users targeted by hackers.”

MacDailyNews Take: Just to make things crystal clear: Mac and iPad users are unaffected.

Beaumont reports, “‘The trick is pretty simple,’ said Catalin Cosoi, a senior researcher for BitDefender, which uncovered the scam. ‘They’re clever to do it this way. If they were able to target Mac customers, it would have spread like wildfire, but because most antivirus companies detect this Trojan, it’s aimed at Windows users who have bought an iPad and who also don’t run a security product.'”

MacDailyNews Take: “If” said Caitlin. A big, fat, “If.” Hope springs eternal among the leeches. The fact is, and it’s painful for WIndows sufferers and the companies that exploit their stupid choice, for over 10 years and counting, “they” have not been able to successfully target Mac customers and have anything “spread like wildfire.”

Beaumont reports, “BitDefender has advised iPad owners not to click on any links that appear in dialog boxes or alerts, and to download iTunes directly from the Apple website. The company also emphasised that the iPad itself remained unaffected by the Trojan.”

MacDailyNews Take: Along with the iPad, the Mac is also unaffected, to be perfectly clear – unlike The Telegraph’s headline and their quoted leech.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: If you’re a Windows-only sufferer who just wandered in here from Google News or somewhere: Newsflash – Windows sucks. It’s a security nightmare. Get a Mac and be happy with your computer for a change.