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MacControl Trojan Being Used In Targeted Attacks Against OS X Users

Trailrunner7 writes "Welcome to the age of targeted attacks, Mac users. Perhaps having grown tired of owning Windows machines around the world for the last few years, attackers have now taken up the challenge of going after Macs with the same kind of targeted attack tactics that have served them so well in the Windows world. Researchers have found a new attack that employs two separate pieces of malware, a malicious Word document and some techniques for maintaining persistence on compromised machines, and the campaign is specifically targeted at Mac users. The command-and-control domain involved in the attack is located in China and the attack exploits a three-year-old vulnerability in the way that Office for Mac handles certain Word files, according to researchers at AlienVault, who discovered and analyzed the attacks."

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  1. Re:Microsoft (: by recoiledsnake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now how cool is that. A new threat is found for the Mac platform and it's in a Microsoft product of course.
    It's an improvement on the previous round, though. Last time it was about malware that required you to actually install it :D

    However, it's an interesting counter-point to the commenters who regularly comment(and get modded up to 11) "How about MS fix security in Windows instead of taking down botnets/shipping antivirus etc.). There is no way to secure an OS from application exploits short of iOS style lockdown, which these very commenters would slag as "TAKING AWAY MY FREEEDOMZZZ". Sorry, but blaming Windows holes has become passe, especially after malware for OS X and Android(run on a Linux kernel which we are told is secure compared to Windows) has come out.

    --
    This space for rent.