Use IRC-based controls

A new backdoor intrusion attempts to turn Macs into bots for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and can also open them to other exploits, says security firm ESET. The malware is operated through IRC networks, and connects to one of a list of IRC servers so it can interpret commands received in a chat channel. Beyond turning Macs into bots, the malware can also enable file downloads by remote users, or execution of shell commands.

ESET labels the malware OSX/Tsunami.A, as it is actually based on a collection of Linux distributions categorized under the header Linux/Tsunami. The OS X backdoor is simply based on a 64-bit Mach-O binary instead of an ELF one, and uses different IRC server, channel, and password information. ESET notes that its own security software already detects Tsunami.A.

by MacNN Staff