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New Mac Trojan Installs Silently, No Password Required

Posted by timothy on from the look-ma-no-hands dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new Mac OS X Trojan referred to as OSX/Crisis silently infects OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and OS X 10.7 Lion. The backdoor component calls home to the IP address 176.58.100.37 every five minutes, awaiting instructions. The threat was created in a way that is intended to make reverse engineering more difficult, an added extra that is more common with Windows malware than it is with Mac malware."

13 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. Macs don't get viruses. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, right.

    1. Re:Macs don't get viruses. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your are just holding it wrong.

    2. Re:Macs don't get viruses. by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

      And trojans aren't viruses unless you're going to show how this is self-replicating.

    3. Re:Macs don't get viruses. by Pieroxy · · Score: 5, Funny

      You've got to give credit to Apple though: No Password Required. It's all in the ease of use for the user and not bother them with useless questions and controls onscreen.

      Those stupid trojans ask for passwords on Windows ! Can you imagine the hassle for the user !??!!

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
    4. Re:Macs don't get viruses. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Exactly. Mac malware Just Works (tm).

  2. cool ... good that I use OS 10.5 by acidfast7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    how about an article on every windows- or android-based trojan.

    1. Re:cool ... good that I use OS 10.5 by rhsanborn · · Score: 5, Informative

      They pulled that comment just a few months ago. Earlier this spring you would have found a claim that it doesn't get PC viruses (Don't be pedantic and claim that it doesn't get PC viruses because PC refers to windows viruses, that's a specious argument and it's a deliberate ploy to claim Macs don't get viruses). So yes, almost every currently deployed Mac was sold with the claim that Macs don't get viruses, directly from Apple.

      http://www.redmondpie.com/apple-removes-its-virus-immunity-claim-for-mac-from-official-website-not-so-safe-from-viruses-after-all-huh/

      http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/06/26/yes-apples-machines-really-can-get-viruses/

    2. Re:cool ... good that I use OS 10.5 by courteaudotbiz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      because PC refers to windows viruses

      PC means personal computer and makes no reference whatsoever to the operating system running on it.

      Wrong. When apple did their "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" marketing campaing, it was perfectly clear they referred to Windows against OSX. They specifically insisted that a Mac and a PC are different, but the geeks we are know that PCs and Macs are almost the same on their hardware base. So what they referred to was about the OS they run.

      AND I AM NOT AN APPLE FANBOY! I have no Mac computers, no iPods, no iPhone

  3. Re:But Macs Don't Get Viruses by SilverJets · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's not a virus.

  4. but it's never been seen in the wild by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    if you actually read the article this is just some bullshit proof of concept made by a anti-virus company to shake down mac users. it's never actually been seen outside of a security website.

  5. Re:but what about mountain lion by Anubis+IV · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a big difference between merely getting it on their machine and actually executing it. Gatekeeper is a new Mountain Lion feature that, by default, prevents any apps that are not from the Mac App Store and are not otherwise signed with an Apple-provided certificate from executing. While inflammatory, the AC's point still stands.

  6. Re:But Macs Don't Get Viruses by Killer+Instinct · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you had a trojan you might not have kids or catch a bad virus as easily
    -KI

    --
    #include bier;
  7. Re:but what about mountain lion by the+JoshMeister · · Score: 5, Informative
    From Intego, the company who first blogged about this malware (emphasis mine):

    This threat may run on Leopard 10.5, but it has a tendency to crash. It does not run on the new Mountain Lion 10.8.

    Also...

    This threat has not yet been found in the wild, and so far there is no indication that this Trojan has infected users

    You're right to imply that Mountain Lion users shouldn't get too cocky, but in this particular case, according to this antivirus vendor, the malware hasn't even been found in the wild—and even if it had, it doesn't run on Mountain Lion.

    --
    the JoshMeister on Security