Comments on: Two new Mac attacks surface
Trojans target Mac OS users, including one hidden in a porn site.
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This is just the beginning of Armageddon for Mac users.
It takes no tools beyond physical access to the system.
It takes no tools beyond physical access to the system.
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You keep bringing this up, but I fear you're missing the point. People are far less worried about malware writers breaking into their houses to corrupt their Macs than they are about malware writers breaking into their winblows boxes without any physical interaction at all.
What's this then? http://www.clamxav.com/
You've never used a Mac, have you?
no amount of security tools can prevent new trojan attacks like this
cause they need to be installed manually by the user
the only way is by using 1/10th of your brain
http://iantivirus.com/
And it will detect trojans, too. Just take a look at the list of signatures (all 105 of them -- most, trojans or not applicable to OS X):
http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/
I've actually rarely been infected by either
it's that pesky spyware/adware you get just by visiting a website
or someone else using your computer for that matter
which is annoying ,Luckily doesn't happen on my Mac
I don't have it happen on my Macs at home.
Perhaps it's the type of sites you are visiting that is the issue?
but it's Funny how Windows is the only O.S with 18,000+ viruses etc
Respect is earned.
Always worry, but don't freak out. Repeat after me ... "I'm paranoid because the world is out to get me".
It mostly patched holes in the UNIX core.
Quiet , they don`t want you to know...but it is a fact !
The COMBO update for 10.5.7, which encompasses 10.5.1-10.5.7 changes bundled together and is over 700MB, includes new versions of software like Mail, iCal, Safari as well as OS updates for functionality including adding all sorts of new cameras that came out between 10.5.0 and now, new printer driver functionality, new graphics drivers for new chips that weren't shipping at 10.5.0, new networking pieces that speed up networking, and general OS bug fixes that one would expect over 2 years of service. Major changes to lots of things.
You simply don't care to tell the truth, and that's fine. Nobody will believe anything you write.
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2004/virus.asp
Though I do believe it's possible on OSX and in *nix in general, it's a very difficult trick to pull off today - hence the rarity of worms for those platforms (I know there have been *nix viruses, the first virus was for Unix ... but has there been any worms to date??). There is one platform that makes it easy to do, as evidenced by the fact that there are thousands of worms written for that platform.
Secure does not equate impregnable, but that realization shouldn't make you throw open the doors and quit trying either.
Because all Mac users are geniuses right?
This is not a virus. It's a trojan. It requires you to decide to install it, and then do so. It relies on people lying to you, and you being stupid enough to think that a webpage is really a dialogue box.
There is no defense for this on any OS, and never will be unless every software vendor would be required to register their software in a database first, and then the OS would only be allowed to install registered software.
Again, like the iPhone. And everyone SCREAMS about how the iPhone needs to "jailbroken" so you can install "whatever you want."
I don't want my Mac to work that way.
I'm virus and trojan free for 18 years and counting. The only Malware I've ever had is the crap HP installs with printer software that constantly phones home, which I disable. HP does the same thing to windows machines, and it's harder to remove...
Does the consumer care whether its a Trojan or a Virus? Does it even matter?
Most computer users are absolute morons... You guys like to forget that and think everyone is reading CNET and Slashdot this is not the case. Most infections are malware.
Any software on Vista requires you to choose to install it with UAC anything that flies under the radar has no permissions to do any damage. The only virus that I can recall for Vista that did damage and didn't require much user interaction was conficker and the only reason it did damage was because people didn't install a patch that was released months before this thing was massively released.
"This is not a virus. It's a trojan. It requires you to decide to install it, and then do so. It relies on people lying to you, and you being stupid enough to think that a webpage is really a dialogue box."
If no OS is immune to malware then why do you and the rest of the Mac fanboys continue to slam Windows for it but as soon as someone says something about Mac malware you all jump on the defensive that it requires user interaction.
Dude, the monkey is flinging feces from the trees again and here is someone looking up at it and arguing. Someone is going to get some dirt in his mouth, but other than that what is the point?
These same people would install any trojan they were presented with anyway. They also would believe they won the Nigerian lottery, and give all their money to "the nice man who was selling ranches in New Mexico."
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2004/virus.asp
then, as long as you weren't stupid enough to ignore the warnings when you didn't set a password to start with, it asks for a password. and I believe that even if you don't have a password set, you still must click OK on the dialogue box with the empty password, and the installer can't click OK for you...
You forget that alot of Mac users think there machines are absolutely immune to anything? And will run the file anyways.
if they do so it's completely up to the user to allow such a trojan !
Apple cant go around preventing people from installing apps
there's a difference between security and complete lockdown
in Windows most infections happen without user interaction
and UAC is broken cause it pops up too many times
most people turn it off !
'if they do so it's completely up to the user to allow such a trojan !
Apple cant go around preventing people from installing apps"
And yet you blame Microsoft for exactly the same thing in many of your comments. This smacks of a double standard in effect.
"there's a difference between security and complete lockdown
in Windows most infections happen without user interaction "
In OSX you can have your browser simply search for a term and if the browser prefetches the site's data, it can exploit your system. *YOU* didn't go out to the site, your browser did. That's a browser issue, not the OS. It's not what happened here, but it does show that blanket statements as you made need to be clarified and corrected.
"and UAC is broken cause it pops up too many times most people turn it off ! "
I would seriously doubt that is the case. I would be hard pressed to find an end user who even *know* you can turn it off or affect its behavior at all. I would also go further to say that the type of person who does know and disables UAC is of a tech-minded sort that wouldn't be affected by the very sites or exploits being discussed in the first place.
Your generalization just doesn't work, I'm afraid.
In OSX you can have your browser simply search for a term and if the browser prefetches the site's data, it can exploit your system. *YOU* didn't go out to the site, your browser did.
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Got any references of this actually happening Dan, or is it all theoretical? I don't deny it's possible, but I haven't heard of a successful exploit using this methodology yet.
This is true of MANY pieces of Malware. They "infect" a Mac by downloading an attachment, but they are only harmful to a windows machine. If you run a virus scanner, you'll find a couple in your email boxes on the Mac, but they don't do anything because they can't exploit the Mac. By deleting them, all you do is prevent yourself accidentally forwarding them to a windows user who trusts you who may get infected.
I haven't even read the comments here yet, but I assume it is just a flame ware between OS zealots.
I use Windows at work and Macs at home. I don't have any security issues with either as they are all updated and I don't go to sites like these in the first place.
So Mac users have to be doubly careful first when using OS X and the fake Quicktime file and secondly while in Windows with the Active X fake file.
I also assume that since the OSX user is most likely to be using Safari or Firefox that the trojan is independent of browsers and is therefore a risk when using Firefox and other browsers in Windows.
While the screenshot shows IE as the example there is nothing in the article that suggests it is an IE exploit. So everyone off their high horses - this malware targets us all and is browser and platform independent.
" I pulled IE 5.2 off of my old PowerBook G4's install disc to see if that piece of software would enable me to more easily see the "made for IE" sites. It doesn't. It's buggy and doesn't render anything right. "
Um... you expected an out of date browser that is several generations behind the web standards for displaying content to work correctly and then complain that it doesn't?
Am I the only one to see the obvious flaw in this?
You know, I tried taking a 1972 Honda CB500 and tried racing it against a 2009 Kawasaki ZX10R. You know what, it didn't win. Obviously the Honda was defective for not being able to keep up with a current generation motorcycle. Therefore that means all Honda's are inferior.
That's the sort of logic you are trying to convince people of, kcotham. It just doens't wash.
Perhaps if you reprhased things, your point would be make more sense? I think it lost something.
The fact that IE is old was my whole point. You just want to argue. You're trolling the discussion and targeting me directly, not cool. Read what I wrote, not what you think I wrote. I was pointing out that the Mac version of IE was old, didn't work well in today's environment. Why would anyone continue to use an outdated piece of software when there are better ones out there that do work. Stop trolling or I WILL make a complain with the editors. There is plenty of evidence here for it.
I've been working in the computer tech field for years and granted pc is the main systems I work on the simple fact is everyone on this board knows computers and keeps up with the technology. the avarage user is far less informed. most non tech blog reading folks couldn't tell the diffrence between a stick of ram and a processor. you the person reading might never fall for any of these malware attacks pc or mac, but millions of basic users do it every day.
There many people who do not understand the threats. And may fall in the trap. But even if they do , they will learn and never do it again.
There is a huge difference between an malicious app that install by itself and a malicious app that need user conscious permission to install. I will have to agree with the rest of mac fanboys here.
But, I don't think I'd say that the Mac users are in denial. It should be noted that this is 1 new piece of malware in about a quarter of a year. And, it should be noted, the site in question that sourced this trojan has now stopped the downloading of the malware. Ergo, no threat.
Here, Mac users, check it out for yourself -- you'll get the popup saying you need to download a codec, but won't be able to -- my guess is the ISP has locked down the malware. (NSFW!!!!) xhottube . net / pagemac . php
Contrast that with the tens of thousands of new malware sources every day on Windows, many of which are still live and infecting systems. Ergo, big threat.
I'll unite with the camp that has no threat, thank you very much. And no, I'm not in denial, I do have AV software installed on my Mac, and use it to scan new downloads from unfamiliar sites, but I don't allow it to run "live" sucking up CPU cycles needlessly.
Even if this article is 100% true, still why we MAC users should care if this is the forth or fifth threat to our security ?
I remember one time that I entered a porn site and downloaded a dmg file and even installed out of curiousity , nothing damaging happened. Not all trojan and viruses and spyware mess up a computer, some of them just offer means to hack a system and steal valuable info , mainly credit card numbers etc. So the threat is real and MAC OS user must keep an open mind.
But would I compare myself with a horrified pc user who needs to over tax his system with security software ?
A MAC user will grow very old till he finds his system taxed by malicious software.
In the end numbers is what it matter. And if front the power of numbers this articles seems very suspicious.
Oh by the way in case you are wondering I am not using IE, don care about Windows apps or any VMs and my system is password protected. I am a programmer and I am much aware what MAC os can or cannot do, but to me is the only real OS out there. Everything else are nothing more than apps that trying to be OS.
Apple taught the world how a real OS is made. My respect to UBUNTU and I keep an open mind for Android.
OS X users have largely been brainwashed and misled by years of Apple advertising to believe that their systems are infallible and require no need to take any sort of security precaution what so ever. That false sense of security is a problem and one that the article is trying to wake people up to. Unfortunately the people who read it here are already computer security aware so preaching to fanboys won't make any difference.
It will probably take a big incident to have any real effect, one where data is lost, money is stolen, etc. But that's not what criminals want anymore. It used to be cool to crash a person's system and laugh about it, but the criminals want your machine to stay running and to silently keep exploiting it without your knowledge. That's where the money is for them.
Obviously, neglecting that 1% in one day equates to 1 new piece of malware discovered in the past, what, 3 months? Versus the thousands (some say as high as 25,000 -- ref: F-Secure) discovered EVERY day, out of the now 1,000,000+ pieces of malware on Windows.
It should be noted that the second piece of malware is a variation of an old piece of code.
Nothing new to see here. Move along. PDFTT.
You're right, FUD is all that is visible.
You claim 25,000 new malware types discovered every day for Windows. For a year, that's 8.9 million new types. Strangely enough, even F-Secure's site doesn't list them. They don't list any, but just make generalizations without actual evidence. But then they are in the business of making money off scaring people who believe whatever it is they read without comprehension.
You're trying to ignore the facts by changing the subject.
- by Mystigo June 12, 2009 8:37 AM PDT
- What is a quicktime.dmg file? Is that the name of the file downloaded? QuickTime is an operating system framework for media playback, editing etc. .dmg is an extension used on mountable disk image files. The dmg handling susbsystem is not part of QuickTime.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- by Vegaman_Dan June 12, 2009 9:15 AM PDT
- If a non-tech oriented Mac user gets a popup saying they need to download and mount a quicktime.dmg file while visiting whatever website they are going to, what are the chances of them doing it?
- Like this
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Showing 2 of 3 pages (183 Comments)"Ah, Quicktime- that's an Apple product. I can trust Apple products."
It's social engineering against the ignorant.