A Russian antivirus company claims that some 600,000 Macs -- most in the U.S. and Canada -- are infected with a trojan horse virus called "Flashback." The company, Dr. Web, issued a report on Wednesday that claimed 550,000 computers running Mac OSX were subject to Flashback. Later, Sorokin Ivan, an analyst at Dr. Web, sent a tweet upgrading the figure to 600,000 and added that 274 were based in Cupertino, Calif., Apple's hometown. Fifty-seven percent of all Macs affected are in the U.S., while another 20% are based in Canada, according to the company. [More from Mashable: How One App Used the iPad’s Retina Display to Increase Downloads 10x] Flashback was originally discovered in September 2011 and was designed to disguise itself as an Adobe Flash Player installer, using Flash player logos. After installing Flashback, the malware seeks out user names and passwords that are stored on your Mac. The resurgence of Flashback appears to take advantage of Java runtime for OSX. Apple issued a patch this week though it didn't mention Flashback by name. The patch is available for OSX 10.6 and 10.7 as well as for OSX Lion 2012-001. [More from Mashable: iPhone Case Helps Players Play Safely] The attack comes after Apple continues to position OS X as a more secure alternative to Windows. "A Mac isn’t susceptible to the thousands of viruses plaguing Windows-based computers," reads a message on Apple's homepage. "That’s thanks to built-in defenses in Mac OS X that keep you safe, without any work on your part." lol:
So... all of those sMACk-talkers who prance around sing-songing how they never have to worry about viruses... are wrong?!
I would imagine that this starts off as malware that users must enter their password to install. Core system changes on OS X and Linux and not allowed unless the user authenticates them. Installing anything on a Mac prompts for authentication and If this was able to install with the user saying 'yes', it would be a real problem. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We were not wrong, just got caught up in our own little world.... We don't have to worry about all the Windoz viri, but we still need to be watchful when these Security Holes show up, in the Java, and non-Apple systems...... YMMV....
Any system is only as safe as the user installing things on it: If you go around installing plugins because some web site tells you to so that you may view it's porn content.... not much can be done about it.
Yep.... those Porn site come-ons are just a Giant Trap for Idiots.... the very best Porn, has always been made at Home..... ..... Y and Mommas, MMV.....
What he said. I refuse when the system offers me updates, then go find them myself. Too many phonies out there. Flash has been a big offender with unasked for and probable fakes, closely followed by Java.
