Hackers turning criminal attention to Macs?
updated 05:35 pm EST, Tue January 22, 2008
'True' hackers after Macs?
The issue of malware on Macs finally became serious in late 2007, says a report by the security vendor Sophos. Although Macs have been targeted before, Sophos argues that it is only recently that hackers have deliberately exploited problems with Macs in order to steal money. One of the main examples given is the OSX/RSPlug trojan, which Sophos notes was planted on websites in order to phish for financial information. Macs that visited the sites would receive the OSX/RSPlug-Gen file, specifically engineered for the Mac OS platform. Notably, the same vector was used to deliver the Zlobar-Fam trojan to Windows PCs, making for an effectively cross-platform incarnation of malware.
A senior technology consultant at Sophos, Graham Cluley, comments that while it will be a long time before Macs surpass PCs in terms of popularity, they are already attracting the attention of criminals due to growing popularity with shoppers. Mac users may have an opportunity here, Cluley suggests. Because serious malware is still a novelty on Macs, people may be able to deter a high level of attacks through their behavior.
"The Mac malware problem is currently tiny compared to the Windows one," he says, "so if enough Apple Mac users resist clicking on unsolicited weblinks or downloading unknown code from the web then there's a chance they could send a clear message to the hackers that it's not financially rewarding to target Macs."
Trouble a-brewin'
01/22, 06:08pm reply
Plenty of Windows switchers who are buying Macs currently are doing so because they're the 'double-click-on-anything' type and have heard Macs don't have malware issues. They're not going to change their behavior... h***, they're switching platforms so they don't have to! If anything, those people will be -less- careful on Macs than they were on Windows machines.
phillymjs
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Joined: Jun 2000
Fear
01/22, 06:24pm reply
Be afraid, buy our security software. Blah, blah, blah.
boris_cleto
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boo
01/22, 06:38pm reply
Be afraid, buy our security software. Blah, blah, blah.
Athens
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Jan 2003
FEAR Me!!! :-)
01/22, 07:12pm reply
Hey, if you throw your computer in the lake it will get wet!! :-) Down load a trojan, submitt your password, and press on and you have to be careful. BUT, considering whats out there, aren't people much safer on a mac???
en
Eldernorm
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sophosmoric
01/22, 07:12pm reply
Getting dumbass people to click and download stuff isn't "malware" - it's "deserve-ware". If you are stupid enough to do it, then you deserve what you get. Leave your keys in your car for me too, will ya?
Doofuses.
robttwo
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Education
01/22, 08:04pm reply
Humans click on things. Its one of our many talents.
The only answer is education. Education everywhere (dcot).
shoregeek
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Joined: Jan 2008
Don't click!
01/22, 08:10pm reply
I totally agree that users who click mindlessly on anything that pops up on their screen deserve exactly what they get. Funny how it's the morons who always cry the loudest when they get burned.
alansky
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Joined: Mar 2000
Will click on anything?
01/22, 09:47pm reply
c***! I just clicked on this story not realizing how insignificant it was going to be. (Should I be worried)
rjrasch
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Joined: Dec 2004
Malware on macs
01/23, 05:32am reply
finally became serious in late 2007? Thank you for telling us, Sophos. Without your information no Mac user would ever knew he is under serious threat.
ViktorCode
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Where's testudo?
01/23, 08:26am reply
this is the perfect thread for him. Just wait till someone slips up then he will go in for the kill...
appleuzr
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