The ESNET security company is reporting that the Tsunami Trojan originally developed for Linux systems has been ported to OSX. The Trojan is designed to hijack an infected system and use its network connection in DDoS attacks or to automatically download more malware. More details are available at MacWorld.
Ruen
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 12:46 PMWhy is it every time I read an article like this the first thing that pops into my head is that Apple ads which says
‘SAFE: OSX is built on a secure Unix foundations which means unlike PC’s it doesn’t have Viruses’
Alby
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 6:23 PMIts not that Macs cannot get a virus, it is that it never was practical to make a virus for a Mac until recently.
Brendan
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 1:13 PMTechnically, a Trojan is not a virus. Virus self distribute, trojans require some form of human intervention to get installed by acting as something they’re not.
Alex
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 1:56 PMTechnically by book definition that might be true but real life fukes u up
Andrew
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 3:49 PMMy definitions:
Software Virus: Any software that makes it’s way onto your computer by any means that steals your money, data, bandwidth, keystrokes, time, soul, childhood memories that you don’t actually want to be there.
Malware: The marketing spin put on viruses to make them seem less alarming.
Macs get viruses. Deal with it. At last count, 6% of Macs are infected. 1.1% of computers running Win7 SP1 are infected. That number would probably be lower if the DOJ didn’t prevent MS from bundling anti virus software with their OS for the last 10 years.
scott
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 2:20 PMOr MS Win was built less prone to virii etc.
BTW, 90% of statistics are made up on the spot – just saying.
Jackson Bison
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 1:31 PMSo Ruen, by Brendan’s comment, you can see that Macs don’t get viruses. Full stop. Yay Apple, nom nom nom…
Brendan, you are an idiot.
Peter
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 1:44 PMThe forests sway in the eye roll your comment earned, bison.
John
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 5:49 PM@Peter that is a win if i ever saw one
incontrovertible
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 1:54 PMThe article fails to mention that the Trojan works in conjunction with IRC. Pretty much only ‘hardcore’ users still have IRC clients so it’s probably not the best way t o spread your malware. A lot of ‘hardcore’ OS X users probably also have Little Snitch, an app that can detect and block any out-going internet traffic.
Ozoneocean
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 4:26 PMYou’ve made a mistake here- I don’t think it needs the user to have an IRC client, what this trojan does is it uses IRC channels to listen in for commands from the “hackers”. (it would have its own way to do this)
Any user foolish enough to become infected with this is vulnerable, not just “hardcore” users. The way these things usually work is that a user thinking that his platform is invulnerable willy-nilly downloads pirated software and gets infected by these trojans. That’s all the user interaction that’s required.
Ozoneocean
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 4:32 PMAs long as you download your software and files from legitimate, trusted sources (friends aren’t necessarily “legitimate sources” either), then you should be ok.
This goes for users of any OS.
Anti-virus software should never be your only defence.
incontrovertible
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 5:43 PMI do realize that it may not need an actual IRC client to use the ports, but in any case it will be caught by Little Snitch, thus making ‘hardcore’ users ‘safe’.
Ozoneocean
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 6:03 PMThat was not the intent of your original comment- U
But, users with Little Snitch make have more chance of detecting this, but one should never fully rely on software to do that for you, it may not work or the virus might have a way around it. Those who’re safe are those that don’t install programs from unsafe sources.
cayal
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 2:07 PMCareful gizmodo, Apple will sue you.
moloko
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 2:24 PMI thought OSX was the safest OS because the people who own it don’t know how to work an internet browser.
Fruit252
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 5:49 PMcorrect
John
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 5:52 PMThe main part i hate about the whole mac vs pc is the idiots on each side.
Chemenski
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 9:03 PM+1