Virus for Mac...really!?

Turns out that the tough times that come with being self employed are even getting to the cyber criminals as they have had to leave the mainstream Microsoft market to embark on the road less traveled. It appears that the miscreants are now using "fake security software" to target Mac users who have long been safe from the threat of these attacks.

According to Gregg Keizer from Computerworld:

"Scammers are distributing fake security software aimed at the Mac by taking advantage of the news that al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed by U.S. forces, a security researcher said today. A security firm that specializes in Mac software called the move "a very big step forward" for malware makers targeting Apple's users."

This kind of software (termed "rogue" software) is quite deceptive as it appears very authentic and would pop up and warn the user that the machine is heavily infected with all kinds of malicious programs. The only way to get rid of these threats is by purchasing this security software - however the software is worthless as it is fake and the threats actually do not exist. For more information on rouge software please refer to this wikipedia article.

It seems that their tactic is to create links to their sites which are hosting their rogue software. The criminals are doing this by spreading news and links about Bin Laden with links to fake articles which would actually lead you to one of their sites/domains allowing you to automatically start downloading their code without your knowledge. I have even seen some of the these Bin Laden links being advertised by some of my contacts on Facebook and I was already suspicious.

The most popular variant of the virus aimed at Mac users is named MacDefender. It has already appeared on some Apple forums with some of the readers/users asking about this new anti virus software:

"FYI, my daughter said the program started after clicking on a 'hair style photo,'" added "Mr. Fix It Home Services" on the same support thread. Others reported stumbling upon MAC Defender after searching for images of prom tuxedos or for pictures of a character in the movie "Princess Bride."

Intego, a French based security firm developing software specifically for Mac, wrote this article about this new threat.

Just goes to show that no-one is exempt from the threat of cybercrime - be careful guys and gals even on Apple now. A bit of advice that might just save you some trouble from Infoworld:

"Mac users running Safari can prevent MAC Defender from automatically opening after it downloads by unchecking the box marked "Open 'safe' files after downloading" at the bottom of the General tab in the browser's Preferences screen." 

Feel free to read the original article about the Mac Defender virus here.

Regards,
WarBrad.