A new virus has infected more than 600,000 Apple computers around the world. As explained by experts from a Russian computer security firm, “Dr. Web”, a Trojan called BackDoor.Flashback penetrates into the computers running operating system Mac OS X and creates a botnet – a network of infected “Mac’s”. Subsequently, the attackers can use it to organize DDoS-attacks or send spam.
As clarified by CNET, FlashBack was discovered in September 2011. It penetrated into Mac computers by virtue of a fake Installer Adobe Flash Player. The new type of virus (BackDoor.Flashback.39) enters the machine with a Java-applet, which is loaded with malicious websites.
As per estimates of “Dr Web”, most of the systems infected with this trojan are located in the U.S. (56.6%), and others include Canada (19.8%), Britain (12.8%) and Australia (6.1%). For removal of this Trojan, owners of Mac computers have been recommended to install the latest security update from Apple if they have not so yet. The patch can be downloaded at support.apple.com/kb/HT5228. However, as per PC World, the company has acted only one month after the hackers started spreading the Trojan.
Specialists from “Dr Web” have pointed out that this vulnerability has once again refuted the claims by some experts that Mac users are secured against digital attacks. It must be recalled that the last major malware for Apple computers (known as MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity) was found in May 2011.
It penetrated the computers via malicious code on websites, masking as a fake antivirus. After self-installation on your PC, it under the guise of scanning the system got access to data like credit card details. According to various estimates, about 60 to 120 000 Mac computers were infected by this malware.