New Mac Trojan discovered - OSX.Flashback

thomas-k-symantec · 2011-09-30T10:40:47.000Z

Hi SpiceHeads,

Thought you might like to know Symantec added Rapid Release Detections for a new Mac trojan.

Denis-Kelley · 2011-09-30T10:47:28.000Z

Thought Mac was bulletproof. Snort!

bradenderle6960 · 2011-09-30T11:05:03.000Z

haha… silly mac users… one day a nasty rootkit is gonna rip apart that FreeBSD they call “Apple OS” and make people weep…

elliotjordan0307 · 2011-09-30T12:06:24.000Z

Wow, that’s hilarious. You see, people think Macs are invincible, but they’re not, so when a new attack appears, it’s really funny! I get the joke!

…

If we can be serious for a moment: I think responsible IT experts know that any platform is vulnerable, and they make a point to keep their clients’ and users’ computers antivirus up to date as a result. If you need a new thread to appear in an online forum to remind you of that, then you’re probably not in the “IT experts” group.

Myself, I’ve got the free Sophos for Mac installed, which detected this a couple days before our friends at Symantec.

mattheramb0038 · 2011-09-30T12:34:30.000Z

An end user thinking Macs are bulletproof is somewhat understandable. If there aren’t any viruses being written or distributed on a mass level, or not hearing of/being made aware of them, then one would think they can’t acquire one. I feel it would equate to someone living in a society where guns are banned. That person would feel “bulletproof” and not ever fear of getting shot (or in this case, be infected with a virus). Until one day someone roles through town shooting a few random pedestrians. Then they realize that even a society where guns are banned, it is still possible to be shot.

doughobbs · 2011-10-03T01:16:06.000Z

I do wish this petty “mac are better ner ner ner” crap would end - the whole thing is made even worse when tech folks squabble about it…

liquidram · 2011-10-03T10:25:48.000Z

Good info. We have had some Apple PC’s here since the start of the company and have recently added more.

I wonder if this type of intrusion or activity will ever hit on the iPad/Mobile Market?

rsingh3989 · 2011-10-03T11:05:09.000Z

DRUMM3RBOY wrote:

An end user thinking Macs are bulletproof is somewhat understandable. If there aren’t any viruses being written or distributed on a mass level, or not hearing of/being made aware of them, then one would think they can’t acquire one. I feel it would equate to someone living in a society where guns are banned. That person would feel “bulletproof” and not ever fear of getting shot (or in this case, be infected with a virus). Until one day someone roles through town shooting a few random pedestrians. Then they realize that even a society where guns are banned, it is still possible to be shot.

This analogy doesn’t work because its not that viruses are banned by Mac OS. Its like you mentioned the market share of Mac is not big enough for someone to write as many viruses. As the market share of Macs increase, so will the number of viruses.