Apple Addresses Mac Malware Concerns, Software Update To Follow
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Apple addresses the malware scare with a support site, software update to follow.
The most recent scares came in the form of "scarewares"--software that fooled users into believing a false virus has been installed in their computers. The malwares (Malicious Software) used aliases like MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity to lull unsuspecting victims to a false sense of safety. Following a convincing warning, the scareware led users to a website that offers to remove the virus with an anti-virus software for a fee.
The string of malware scams have been linked to ChronoPay, a Russian payment processor, by security researcher Brian Krebs, reported PCWorld.
PCWorld reports:
A leak of ChronoPay's internal documents last year, caught by Krebs, provided further ties between the Russian online payment firm and the malware, which may be hiding under different aliases, including MacDefender, MacProtector, MacSecurity and Apple Security Center, according to eWeek. The documents have also signaled that two new domains -- appledefence.com and appleprodefence.com -- were registered on May 20 to ChronoPay, evidence that the Mac Defender malware, which started its Apple-unfriendly onslaught on May 2, isn't finished yet.
Read more here.
eWeek reports:
"Cybercriminals will continue to target Mac users because they are currently a 'soft target',” Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, told eWEEK. Mac users have been told so often that Macs don’t have viruses that they are now highly vulnerable to attack.
Apple finally broke its silence this week, posting a support document with instructions on how to remove the rogue application if the user has downloaded it. Apple also promised to roll out an update to Mac OS X that would automatically detect and remove known variants of the scareware.
Read more here.
Ed Bott from ZDNet reports:
So how big is the problem? Apple’s silence makes it impossible to know for sure. However, I’m told that the division that handles Mac support calls receives between 10,000 and 20,000 calls a day. If 25% of those calls are related to this issue, which has been going on for 25 days, the total number of customers affected could be between 60,000 and 125,000, and growing.
Read more here.
If you were one of those affected by the spreading malware, follow the link to Apple's support site to remove said malware and make sure not to share any personal information on an unknown link.
Update:
Apple has sent out security updates expanding their quarantine list to add the infamous MacDefender malware via Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard anti-virus feature. Take a gander into your updates if you feel you may be affected.
Comments
Hey Jacob, great article. And I feel like "susceptible to viruses and malicious malware" would've been correct. I know as an author you gotta play it straight but i dont need Apple to come out and admit to the existence of "apple viruses" to give me permission to believe in their existence. Do more for your customers Apple. Thanks. (my damn iPad already acts up and has network connection issues sometimes)
Hey all, thanks for the comments. It was an oversight on my part: definitely malware, not virus.
The questions is, why would the Russian payment processor, ChronoPay, risk a potential lawsuit?
Actually, not ALL computers are susceptible to viruses. There are still no viruses that affect Linux systems. The Mac OS was based on a variant of Linux, but they made some very important changes (such as removing the executable bit) that make Macs much more vulnerable to viruses than Linux - although still a whole lot safer than Windows.
Maybe someday there will be a real malware problem on Linux, but that day is probably a long way off. Some say that this is not only because Linux is a more secure system but also because it's a less lucrative target given that fewer people use it. This doesn't take into account the fact that Linux dominates the server market, however, and if I had the choice of designing malware that would take over individual desktop computers or web and other servers, I'd think that the latter would be more appealing.
It is not a virus or Trojan. You have to click on it and type your password to install it. It doesn't spread to other computers. Not sure why there is so much hysteria about this, blowing it up way beyond what it is. Again, not a virus or Trojan.
If you substitute malware here "Macs are susceptible to viruses" for viruses then the statement will be correct. As it is there still no viruses for the Mac. The difference is that viruses don't need your consent. All malware for the Mac are Trojans because you have to install them for them to infect your computer.
This is not a virus. Just as a human virus is transmitted unwillingly from one person to another, a computer virus is transmitted unwillingly from one computer to another. That is not the case here. This is a malicious program that naive users have run when told to by a malicious website. No machine that runs programs at the command of a user is immune to foolishness on the part of that user.