Kaspersky posts Flashback removal for infected Macs
updated 10:20 am EDT, Wed April 11, 2012
Says botnet now includes over 670,000 systems
Security firm Kaspersky Lab has released a free software utility for removing the Flashback Trojan, which has infected a number of Macs worldwide. People who think they're affected can visit the company's Flashback check website first, but the tool will conduct its own scan. Kaspersky normally refers to the Trojan under the less common term Flashfake.
Recent data from the firm suggests that over 670,000 computers are infected, of which at least 98 percent are "most likely" running OS X, if not all of them. The US has about 300,917 infected systems, followed by Canada at 94,625, the UK at 47,109, and Australia at 41,600. Other affected regions -- such as France, Japan, and Germany -- have less than 8,000 infected computers each, for instance dropping down to 3,864 in the case of Japan.
Apple is known to be working on its own Flashback removal tool. The company has come under fire for being slow to react, for example waiting over a month to fix a Java vulnerability Oracle had already solved.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2009
Isn't the Cold War over?
Kaspersky is a Russia-based, multi-national company with offices around the world, including two offices in the US. Even so, the first thing many people will say is this company is simply a front for the Russians to spy on us and even go so far as to say they created the original Flashback malware. One of these days, we just have to realize that there are good, honest people from all corners of the world and appreciate a company like this that is attempting to help Mac users. When I researched Kaspersky Labs, I was amused to find that several, high-profile security companies make use of their anti-virus engine (from Wikipedia) including several the company I work for uses:
The Kaspersky Anti-Virus engine also powers products or solutions by other security vendors, such as Check Point, Bluecoat, Juniper Networks, Sybari (now acquired by Microsoft), Netintelligence, GFI Software, F-Secure, Clearswift, FrontBridge, G-Data, Netasq, and others. Altogether, more than 120 companies are licensing technology from Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky Lab also has a number of partnerships with various technology companies (ex. Samsung).
I know Apple is upset with them but it appears they are actually trying to help the situation instead of exploiting it (well, no more than any anti-virus company).