[flamesbball84]

Intego, makers of VirusBarrier and other security software for the Macintosh, issued a security alert for Mac users on Thursday, advising them about the existence of a new Trojan Horse, which they’ve named OSX.Trojan.iServices.A. This new Trojan Horse can be found in pirated copies of Apple’s iWork ‘09 application suite, which has been downloaded over 20,000 times, according to Intego’s numbers.

Once infected, the clean-up process may be quite painful. As the Trojan horse has the ability to install additional components, it’s not sufficient to remove the known pieces. Instead, the safest recovery method starts with a reformat and a clean install of OS X. Because the Trojan may also modify installed applications (this is possible because the Trojan is running as root), programs should be reinstalled from their master discs, not from backups. Finally, the user should copy over their data files from backups.

http://www.macworld.com/article/138380/iworktrojan.html

[JMUDukes]

1 trojan...yawn

the numbers just don't compare.

[flamesbball84]

1 trojan...yawn

the numbers just don't compare.

yes, but the point is, Mac fanboys are always saying how Mac's don't get viruses and similar type things, which is simply 100% false.

[mrmacphisto]

1 trojan...yawn

the numbers just don't compare.

yes, but the point is, Mac fanboys are always saying how Mac's don't get viruses and similar type things, which is simply 100% false.

I think the argument is that Macs are far less susceptible.

[El Scorcho]

Do you understand the difference between a trojan and a virus?

There are no known viruses for Mac OS X. That has not changed.

[flamesbball84]

Do you understand the difference between a trojan and a virus?

There are no known viruses for Mac OS X. That has not changed.

msnbc says otherwise...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12537279/

so does sophos
http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/ ... xleap.html

[El Scorcho]

Do you understand the difference between a trojan and a virus?

There are no known viruses for Mac OS X. That has not changed.

msnbc says otherwise...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12537279/

so does sophos
http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/ ... xleap.html

It's a worm, but it's not a virus. I disagree with the guy who wrote the editorial at Sophos. It can't infect a machine without user interaction. A true virus both spread and infects without user interaction.

When a vulnerability in Mac OS X is exploited without any user interaction, call me. Until then, this is just FUD.

[prototype]

MACs can get virus' too. The real reason is this:

At one time, not to long ago, 1% of computer users used a MAC, so your idiots that created virus' and worms always went after the common operating system. We will see many more virus' aimed at MACs now, because those numbers are becoming less skewed. That's the plain truth about it - coders can write codes that can affect the MAC system the same way, I've seen it, but it's very uncommon.

[LUconn]

I don't know. I don't think he'd go out on a limb and say something as definitive as "there are no known viruses on record for Macs" if it wasn't true. He'd leave himself some wiggle room.

[HenryGale]

MACs can get virus' too. The real reason is this:

At one time, not to long ago, 1% of computer users used a MAC, so your idiots that created virus' and worms always went after the common operating system. We will see many more virus' aimed at MACs now, because those numbers are becoming less skewed. That's the plain truth about it - coders can write codes that can affect the MAC system the same way, I've seen it, but it's very uncommon.

I've heard Leo Laporte say the same thing. Makes no sense to spend all that time to only affect such a small amount of computers...

[Hold My Own]

MACs can get virus' too. The real reason is this:

At one time, not to long ago, 1% of computer users used a MAC, so your idiots that created virus' and worms always went after the common operating system. We will see many more virus' aimed at MACs now, because those numbers are becoming less skewed. That's the plain truth about it - coders can write codes that can affect the MAC system the same way, I've seen it, but it's very uncommon.

I've heard Leo Laporte say the same thing. Makes no sense to spend all that time to only affect such a small amount of computers...

I mean, but does it make sense to sit around and make virus' at all? Unless there was some sort of a function to get back to the creator to see how many people he effected I just dont see the point of "hope it's out there getting spread around!!!"

[El Scorcho]

MACs can get virus' too. The real reason is this:

At one time, not to long ago, 1% of computer users used a MAC, so your idiots that created virus' and worms always went after the common operating system. We will see many more virus' aimed at MACs now, because those numbers are becoming less skewed. That's the plain truth about it - coders can write codes that can affect the MAC system the same way, I've seen it, but it's very uncommon.

There are different schools of thought on why Macs have generally been left alone. The market share theory is one of them, but it's not the one I subscribe too. I think it plays into it, but I don't think it's the main factor.

I subscribed to the "low hanging fruit" theory. Basically, when you look at where the easy exploits are, they've always been on Windows. In the 98/2000 and early XP days Microsoft shipped giant holes in their OS. That's just how it was. Windows is also the easiest to code an application for. Every programmer knows Visual Basic and C because it's what every beginner programming class teaches. Microsoft was an easy target. Even beginner programmers could code viruses in the early days.

These days that's not the case. Microsoft fixed their giant holes in XP SP2 and SP3. Vista changed their security model such that their modern OS's are really about as secure as OS X or Linux. At this point the market share theory comes into play a little more, I think. It takes a lot more skill to find modern vulnerabilities, not to mention to write exploit for them. To craft a useful exploit is even more difficult.

You are correct, though. There is absolutely no reason why a Mac could not be infected with a virus by an intelligent coder. Every single OS is vulnerable in some way, at some point. All you have to do is keep up with the security advisories published by SANS, Secunia, etc. and you'll see every OS and application out there listed at some point. However, there just aren't a lot of malware writers out there well versed in Objective C and Cocoa. It will happen someday, but a real deal self-replicating self-infecting virus just isn't out there for OS X right now. There are trojans and a couple of worms, but that's it. It's all pretty benign stuff.

[El Scorcho]

I mean, but does it make sense to sit around and make virus' at all? Unless there was some sort of a function to get back to the creator to see how many people he effected I just dont see the point of "hope it's out there getting spread around!!!"

There is a LOT of money out there in malware, my friend. I'll break down a simple example for you:

Imagine you find a currently unknown vulnerability in Windows XP SP3. You create a virus that can successfully exploit this vulnerability and install itself on Windows machines without any user interaction. Once your virus installs itself, it begins to replicate itself. On the infected machines it is installed on, it downloads and installs a mail server program. This program accepts mail and sends it back out to the Internet.

Your virus is a huge success. It infects 200,000 Windows machines within a month. You now have 200,000 servers that you can anonymously send email from. There are many people who are interested in sending lots of anonymous unsolicited bulk email in order to advertise something they would like to sell. We call this "spam".

You rent out your network of mail bots (commonly called a "botnet") for a few thousand dollars per week and your customers get to anonymously spam the Internet at large from thousands of servers around the world.

[flamesbball84]

I mean, but does it make sense to sit around and make virus' at all? Unless there was some sort of a function to get back to the creator to see how many people he effected I just dont see the point of "hope it's out there getting spread around!!!"

There is a LOT of money out there in malware, my friend. I'll break down a simple example for you:

Imagine you find a currently unknown vulnerability in Windows XP SP3. You create a virus that can successfully exploit this vulnerability and install itself on Windows machines without any user interaction. Once your virus installs itself, it begins to replicate itself. On the infected machines it is installed on, it downloads and installs a mail server program. This program accepts mail and sends it back out to the Internet.

Your virus is a huge success. It infects 200,000 Windows machines within a month. You now have 200,000 servers that you can anonymously send email from. There are many people who are interested in sending lots of anonymous unsolicited bulk email in order to advertise something they would like to sell. We call this "spam".

You rent out your network of mail bots (commonly called a "botnet") for a few thousand dollars per week and your customers get to anonymously spam the Internet at large from thousands of servers around the world.

Building on what Scorcho said here...

Ever hear of the pornography industry? I don't really think I need to explain how extremely successful they have been using such tactics along with helping push the boundaries of technological innovation (first to do streaming video, first to use online payment systems, first to make spam a huge ordeal, and others according to an article I read)

[Hold My Own]

So there's money in it....Schorchy I think we've found that business we've been looking for....it's only taken a year or so after our conversation!

[El Scorcho]

So there's money in it....Schorchy I think we've found that business we've been looking for....it's only taken a year or so after our conversation!

Um, no. El Scorcho does not want to end up in <a href="

">federal PMITA prison</a>.

Besides, that is pretty much the antithesis of my current job.

[SuperJon]

Is it bad I knew what federal PMITA prison without clicking the link?

[El Scorcho]

Oh, and one other very important thing I forgot to note about this...

This new Trojan Horse can be found in pirated copies of Apple’s iWork ‘09 application suite, which has been downloaded over 20,000 times, according to Intego’s numbers.

See the big yellow word? Yeah, I have no sympathy for anyone who gets a virus from pirated software regardless of the platform they use. iWork '09 is all of $79, and that's full retail price. Students get it for even less. Anyone who'd pirate that is lame and deserves what they get.

[JMUDukes]

Oh, and one other very important thing I forgot to note about this...

This new Trojan Horse can be found in pirated copies of Apple’s iWork ‘09 application suite, which has been downloaded over 20,000 times, according to Intego’s numbers.

See the big yellow word? Yeah, I have no sympathy for anyone who gets a virus from pirated software regardless of the platform they use. iWork '09 is all of $79, and that's full retail price. Students get it for even less. Anyone who'd pirate that is lame and deserves what they get.

don't really see why iWork is so awesome, either. I don't need it.

[flamesbball84]

Oh, and one other very important thing I forgot to note about this...

See the big yellow word? Yeah, I have no sympathy for anyone who gets a virus from pirated software regardless of the platform they use. iWork '09 is all of $79, and that's full retail price. Students get it for even less. Anyone who'd pirate that is lame and deserves what they get.

don't really see why iWork is so awesome, either. I don't need it.

I have to say that google docs or open office is a much better bargain than iWork or even Office, although for school I need Office because its more "powerful" than either one of those.

[adam42381]

Is it bad I knew what federal PMITA prison without clicking the link?

Hey Peter, man, check out channel 9...

[FlameNForest]

1 trojan...yawn

That's what sh...nevermind.

[JMUDukes]

1 trojan...yawn

That's what sh...nevermind.