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Backdoor Trojan For Windows Ported To Mac OS

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the run-for-cover dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A Remote Access Trojan (RAT) for Windows, known as darkComet, has been ported to Mac OS X. The new backdoor Trojan is not yet finished, but it could be indicative of more underground programmers attempting to take advantage of Apple's growing market share."

4 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It was just a matter of time by catmistake · · Score: 1, Interesting

    People persecuting MS for poor security are living in the past. Windows is now a fine secure OS,

    Actually, due to backwards compatibility, you too are living in the past. Windows is hardly more secure than it used to be. I bet anything most still operate as admin... undermining all the new security features. In fact, judging by the summary, it's security is so bad it makes other operating systems less secure.

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    The Admin and the Engineer
  2. Re:It was just a matter of time by benwiggy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'm still not convinced by the "market share" argument. The traditional rebuff is that Mac OS 9 had more malware than OS X, despite a smaller market share.

    There may well be large gaping holes in Mac security. The question is: why is no one exploiting them? I don't mean winning a competition, but maliciously or criminally using them.

    At what percentage of market share does it become viable to start writing malware? 25%? 50%? 75%?

    Regardless of percentage, there are reckoned to be c. 94 million OS X users. Is that still not enough? As we all know, Mac users are computer illiterates with far more money than sense. Surely this sector would seem ideal for targeting by malware writers?

    Assuming the reason for the lack of malware is NOT the inherent robustness of the OS; and it's NOT the market share: then what IS it?

  3. Re:It was just a matter of time by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Fine evidence that you didn't even read my post - yes, the same thing can be done with VNC, however I am not routinely removing VNC from unsuspecting users computers (infact, I have never come across a VNC install that the user didnt expressly know about in the first place).

  4. Re:It was just a matter of time by ModernGeek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not to mention that face that GP didn't even take into account that MacOS 9, with a much smaller deployment base than MacOS X, had TONS of viruses for it. Deployment base != Infection rate. If this were the case, Linux Servers would be riddled with viruses. I'm pretty sure the GP is a troll, his last sentence is a troll within itself.

    --
    Sig: I stole this sig.