Having Flashbacks? ;-)
Malware on Macintosh is so rare that I like to spread the word when it occurs!
I’d do the same for Windows users, but I don’t have that kind of time! 
Even VeriSign, a heavy user of Windows, was hacked repeatedly in 2010, with data stolen!
Fortunately, I left there in 2007!
A Russian antivirus company, Dr. Web, reported today that the number of Macintosh computers infected with the Flashback Trojan had increased from 550,000 earlier in the day to 600,000 later in the day, with a majority of the machines (57%) in the U.S. and 274 of them in Cupertino. (The Russians know a LOT about malware, having INVENTED many types! 😉 ) Another 20% of the Macs are in Canada.
The Flashback Trojan was initially discovered in September of 2011, when it was masquerading as a fake Adobe Flash player plugin installer. Lately, however, the Trojan has evolved to target Mac systems by exploiting vulnerabilities in Java. A new variant appeared over the weekend that appeared to take advantage of a Java vulnerability for which Apple released a patch yesterday.
CNET blogger, Topher Kessler, notes that simply visiting a malicious Web site that contains Flashback, with Java installed, will result in one of two installation routes: 1) if an Administrative password is supplied in response to the malware’s request for it, the malware code will be installed into the Applications folder. or 2) if the password is NOT supplied, the malware will install itself into the user accounts, where it can run in a more global manner!
Once Flashback is installed, it will inject code into browsers and other applications, like Skype, to harvest passwords and other tidbits of useful information!
The security company, F-Secure, has published information on how to determine whether a computer is infected with Flashback and how to disinfect the machine.
(Note added April 6, 2012: Apple has released a second Java update to combat Flashback. If you do not have “Software Update” frequency set to “Daily,” then you are likely living in the same “Fool’s Paradise” previously inhabited only by Windows users! )
-Bill at
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