Mac Malware Numbers Growing
© lepiaf.geo
As a Mac user, I have been guilty of touting how robust the software is, and how my OS X is very virus resistant. I have always known that the guts of my Mac were no more secure than Windows Vista or Windows 7, but rather it is just that Microsoft OS's are under constant attack because of their sheer popularity. This is a fact that is starting to catch up to me quickly. Malware for OS X is a problem that is growing, and it is growing quickly.
The fact of the matter is that Apple computers and devices are growing in popularity among families, young professionals, and students. These are just the kind of computer users that virus writers love to target. Typically, these types of users know enough to get themselves in trouble, but not enough to fix anything. As the popularity of Macs grow, the popularity of Mac malware will grow proportionally.
The latest threat is a little program called Puper, a trojan that hides itself as a disk image for a program for MacCinema. Once installed, it goes about the dirty work of downloading more nasty stuff to your system every five hours. Now, as is the case with all viruses, malware, and spyware, it is easy to avoid. Simply never install crap you download off the Internet unless you know it is safe, and never open attachments that you don't trust and were expecting.
Puper will not be the last piece of Mac malware; we will continue to see more and more everyday. Soon, I expect that Apple or some other vendor will have a constant virus scan suite for the Mac just like Windows does. In the meantime, save yourself some trouble and just be smart.
Via Digital Trends
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By Louis Wheeler, July 10, 2009 @ 8:12 am
Let’s not panic. No computer is immune to malware. What you are talking about is a Trojan Horse, malware that masquerades as an innocent application The user must give away his passwords to install it, so he or she must be careful. What is this make–four Mac Trojan horse’s, this last year? And none of them came to much, because the Mac press let users know there was a problem, so a fix was developed and downloaded.
Meanwhile, in the last two years, the Windows computer’s went from 140 to over 200 thousand virus’. Most of those were automatically installed without human intervention. All someone needed do was to log into a web site. That doesn’t happen with Mac. Mac’s BSD UNIX foundations prevent self replicating virus, worms, adware and spyware. Even so, the Mac is getting more scrutiny from hackers.
Snow leopard 10.6 will have much improved 64 bit security. More processes and applications will be sandboxed. A malware Trojan will confined to one process, so it can’t spread through out your ram and disk space.
Too many requests for resources and in/out ports will be called to your attention. You can, then, look into the Activity Monitor and see which processes are using up your computing cycles. If a plugin is over utilizing your computer, you can delete it and with it goes your malware problem. This is better security, but no one said that the Mac’s are perfect.
By Anne, July 10, 2009 @ 11:12 am
***Puper will not be the last piece of Mac malware; we will continue to see more and more everyday.***
This doesn’t make sense. As Louis Wheeler points out there have been all of 4 mac specific trojans in the past year. None of which were spread widely. While it is likely that we’ll continue to see more malware directed at the mac OS, there is a ways to go before it becomes a even a monthly much less a daily occurrence.
Exaggerating the risk isn’t helpful. Headlines like yours remind me of the nursery tale, “The Boy Who Called Wolf” It creates the situation where conscientious mac users read alarming headlines, investigate, and realize they are not even remotely at risk. The danger is that at some point they’re just going to stop reading. Which could leave them unaware of genuine risks.
By Resuna, July 10, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
“I have always known that the guts of my Mac were no more secure than Windows Vista or Windows 7, but rather it is just that Microsoft OS’s are under constant attack because of their sheer popularity. ”
Not so. The surface area exposed to attack in Windows is significantly larger, because of the design of the OS and applications. On Windows it’s not a matter of simply “don’t download and run crocked software”… Windows has too many mechanisms to automatically load and run software for it EVER to be secured to the level of other operating systems.
By hiscross, July 10, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
You have to be kidding! What load of crap. OS X may have holes, but growing? Gez, must be bored to write this hack of a story. Show some facts, not the old story that goes like this, if Macs become as popular as windows they too would have 150,000 exploits. Sure, if I had wings, was a pig, and ice skated in hell, I’m sure you would be right. Have a nice day.
By Michael Linehan, July 10, 2009 @ 6:53 pm
Scream! Swoon! Horrors! Pass me the Prozac; I’m freaking out. Mac malware (that has to be installed by the user) has skyrocketed from zero to, what?, three. And auto-infection is still at zero, as far as I know. We’ll be up to 200,000 in no time.
By the way, on the popularity myth: Linux/Apache/MySQL is much more widespread than Windows server, on the Internet. But it is not correspondingly more attacked — because it is inherently, like OS X, enormously more secure.
By Laserk, July 10, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
In the words of Daniel Eran Dilger:
According to proponents of the Mac Malware Myth, Mac users should be afraid of a series of reports about a “rising tide” of malicious software and in panicked response, install anti-virus software from the vendors who propagate those dire warnings. They’re wrong, here’s why.
.
For more than a half decade, the Windows-enraptured tech media has been banging on a drum about the imminent arrival of Mac viruses. As proof of this coming wave, they always cite researchers employed by anti-virus vendors who recount vulnerabilities found in Mac OS X or occasionally trojan horse malware designed to dupe Mac users into manually installing software that intentionally causes problems.
This is like warning the population of the threat of a global pandemic outbreak based on press releases issued by a homeopathic group concerned that isolated reports of individuals hitting themselves with a hammer might portend a greater public health crisis, unless more people coat themselves with 30x ferrum phos obtained from one of their practitioners.
Somewhat ironically, a good long time ago, well before any of today’s pundits were trying to suggest that Windows isn’t really that insecure and the Mac isn’t really any better, there was a time in the 80s that Macs did suffer from regular infections, at least if you were in a school setting where kids were passing around floppies infected with boot sector viruses. That was in the days before Microsoft ported the Mac desktop to the PC and called it Windows. A lot has changed since. (Correction: There Were Never Any Mac Boot Sector Viruses )
Someday, someone might develop code that attacks Mac OS X, then replicates itself, and propagates the attack to other systems. Of course, for that type of viral attack to have any real and lasting effect, it will also require Macs to be widely installed by millions of users in the 1990s, prior to the development of Software Update over the Internet. You’ll know this is about to happen shortly after the first time machine is invented.
Until then, you can rest assured that every article you read about a wide spread virus attacks is really about Microsoft Windows. Of course, there will also be those sneaky articles written in CNET and Wired and the Register that insinuate that trojan horse attacks are the same thing as viruses because they are both “malware,” just like stubbing your toe and the Black Death are both “health-related issues.”
OK, I’m ready, bring it on…I double, dog dare these scary virus writers to come up with a Mac virus. Infect me…go ahead..this is 2009, not 1990 and I don’t think they can do it or they would have done it…for vanity if not for profit. So let’s write articles about something worthwhile and not give these fantasies the time of day.
By rogre, July 10, 2009 @ 7:43 pm
Chris,
your ether too stupid to write a real article or your an ass trolling because your too stupid to write a real article.
By rogre, July 10, 2009 @ 7:44 pm
Chris,
your ether too stupid to write a real article or your an idiot trolling because your too stupid to write a real article.
By Chris, July 10, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
Thanks for the comments and the constructive rebuttals. I really appreciate it.
I did not mean to imply that Macs are being crippled by viruses etc. I do however think that Mac malware threats will continue to grow. For example, in the past year, Cocktail (which I use religiously) has started to scan for id’d threats. Things are changing.
Yes, growth from 0 – 3 threats is nominal, but it is still growth. I was simply trying to warn computer users – mac users specifically – that they need to be careful.
Thank again for the constructive criticism.
By stefn, July 11, 2009 @ 7:51 am
It’s fine to warn Mac users. But responsible writers need to clarify for general readers two points that are so often misconstrued:
* Malware is not the same as viruses. Mac malware, sure; Mac viruses, not 1.
* MS virus threats are astronomical by comparison. Mac viruses 0; MS viruses thousands and growing.
Does anyone really think that MS is suddenly going to thwart thousands of attacks each year? Or that hackers will suddenly give up? Or that Apple will faint at the sight of a first real virus?
By Krioni, July 11, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
OK. Trojan Horses are almost impossible to protect from – the user generally is allowed to permit new programs to run. Claiming that Trojan Horses are somehow a serious problem shows that you don’t know what you are talking about!
There are an infinite number of possible Trojan Horses out there. The old Unix joke is the one that relies on the honor system: go type rm -rf / into your Terminal and give it your root password – it will delete every file on your disk (BUT, you have to CHOOSE to run this command). So, don’t do dumb things. A similar example on the Mac would be to paste the following code into Script Editor and then run it:
tell application “Finder”
activate
set desktopPath to path to desktop folder
open desktopPath
select every item of window 1
move result to trash
– empty trash — remove dashes to make this actually empty
end tell
(notice that I commented out the empty trash line to prevent anyone from accidentally deleting files)
This won’t even require your password, but you have to DECIDE the run it.
The serious problem that Windows faces is the large amount of malware that runs WITHOUT you having to DO anything – maybe you visit a website, and BOOM – your computer is infected. You check email – BOOM.
So, your article is almost completely meaningless. No operating system can save you from yourself. Don’t run untrusted code. The problem for Windows is you often don’t get a choice – code runs because of a security vulnerability WITHOUT asking you.
I need to save this comment as a blurb to paste in every time someone runs a goofy article/blog-post like this.
By Kiwiiano, July 11, 2009 @ 8:45 pm
I don’t know about other Mac users, but I have ClamXav Sentry keeping an eye on my Downloads and Library/Mail folders for any intruders piggybacking in. It’s free and has picked up 2 nasties so far. Both Windows dot exe’s attached to unsolicited emails that snuck past my ISP’s filters.
By Dan Pouliot, July 12, 2009 @ 7:41 am
“Yes, growth from 0 – 3 threats is nominal, but it is still growth. I was simply trying to warn computer users – mac users specifically – that they need to be careful.”
So Windows viruses are measured in the hundreds of thousands, and you’re gonna try to say that 0 – 3 is growth. Sheesh. Relatively speaking, that is not growth. If Windows 7 only had 0 – 3 viruses, Microsoft would be trumpeting from the rooftops how freakin’ secure it was compared to other Windows versions. You have the nerve to say there have been 3 (non-self replicating, trojans that got barely any traction) viruses for the Mac as a cause for alarm?!? This is clearly a fearmongering article.
By veggiedude, July 12, 2009 @ 9:07 am
Install Little Snitch then. It will tell you if a program is trying to connect out to a server, and you can hit ‘deny’. There is no need for Virus protection on a Mac.
By Derek, July 12, 2009 @ 11:07 am
Mac user since 1986. Last malware I saw personally was the Hong Kong Worm, 1998. It was clumsy, only transmitted by removable disks. The fix was out on the net before it hit my studio. I isolated a single Mac and ran all incoming disks through it first. I It was irritating for about a month but then it was all over. I have never seen one in the wild since.
These trojans are just an example of the old ditty, PLBKAC …
(Problem lies between the keyboard and chair)
If ever some smart exploiter does manage to get a self propagaing bug out there, the Mac community will have a fix out there just as fast and it will all be over as fast as it began. And in fairness, it would be just the same for the Linux community.
This is what makes us stand apart from the Windows hoard …
By Derek, July 12, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
Sorry, the Windows ‘horde’.
Relax, everybody. Trojans are something to be aware of but if you’re a responsible user, you have nothing to worry about. The worm I mentioned before was back when we were using Classic, System 8. Nothing at all since OS X was released. It’s Unix and looks after itself.
All the comments above are correct. The windows (notice the lower case) centric media wants us to freak out over malware now that Apple is so popular. Also, it’s the AV vendors trying to drum up business. We Mac users are in no danger because we will look after ourselves. Again, as I said, the fix will be out as fast as the bug shows up and it will all be over just as fast as it began.
However, we should be aware of our windows friends. Remember, a file is just a file. If you forward something you’ve found to a windows user, you should be very careful. Pdf’s, Word files and even images. The bad guys can embed these little bugs in a pixel or two. The chances are that your windows friends are already infected with something but just the same, you don’t want to add something new to their wonderful experience
. Pick your choice of AV protection and run it just to make sure you just don’t pass something along. Practice safe transfer 