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Fake Codec is Mac OS X Trojan

Posted by Zonk on from the search-safely dept.

Kenny A. writes "Multiple news organisations are reporting on an in-the-wild Mac OS X malware attack that uses porn lures to plant phishing Trojans on Mac machines. The attack site attempts to trick users into download a disk image (.dmg) file disguised as a codec that's required for viewing the video. If the Mac machine's browser is set to to open 'Safe' files after downloading, the .dmg gets mounted and the Installer is launched. The target must click through a series of screens to become infected but once the Trojan is installed, it has full control of the machine."

4 of 473 comments (clear)

  1. Steps to get infected by giminy · · Score: 5, Informative

    To get infected, you have to:

    1) Go to a porn site
    2) Download a plugin from the porn site
    3) Click "OK" that you are downloading a .DMG file.
    4) Mount the .DMG
    5) Go back to the Finder
    6) Double-click the installer
    7) Type in your account password
    8) Click next a few times

    Calling this, "In the Wild," is laughable. How did the porn site "get infected"? I'll bet anything that the porn site(s) in question know exactly what they are doing...

    --
    The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
  2. Re:Hmm by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is neither a virus or a worm; it's a trojan. A trojan is a program that does or claims to do something useful, which gets you to install it. Once installed, it does something else in addition to or instead of what you installed it for.

    No OS is foolproof, and even Mac and Linux users can be fools. Mac and Linux machines can be broken into, can get trojans, theur users can be tricked into giving out passwords, but there are no Mac or Linux viruses in the wold.

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  3. Full Control of the Machine? by His+Shadow · · Score: 5, Informative
    Bullshit. It appends the DNS servers to point the user to phishing and porn sites and runs a cron job to make sure the changes are modified. Does it then email everyone in your address book and infect every other machine on your network? No. It can't even install itself without the Admin password. It's a social hack.

    Nice Try tho...

    --

    Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos

  4. Re:Hmm by djh101010 · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.apple.com/getamac/viruses.html

    And i quote "850 new threats were detected against Windows. Zero for Mac."

    Yes, it admits it's possible, it doesn't however, admit there are any.
    Wow, that's an astonishingly blatant use of creative quoting without context. Lets read the whole paragraph, unedited, shall we?

    By the end of 2005, there were 114,000 known viruses for PCs. In March 2006 alone, 850 new threats were detected against Windows. Zero for Mac. While no computer connected to the Internet will ever be 100% immune from attack, Mac OS X has helped the Mac keep its clean bill of health with a superior UNIX foundation and security features that go above and beyond the norm for PCs. When you get a Mac, only your enthusiasm is contagious.

    A bit different than your out of context snippet this way, isn't it.

    How do the facts then agree with your claim that "it doesn't however, admit there are any."? Says right there "While no computer connected to the Internet will ever be 100% immune from attack,". Sheesh. It's almost like you figured nobody would check your claim to see how blantantly you misrepresented it.