Mac OS X is now a target for professional malware writers.
This is according to Kaspersky Lab, which warns that a new Trojan targeting Mac OS is the most dangerous to date. The company says the malware (Trojan-Downloader.OSX.Flashfake.d) masquerades as an Adobe Flash Player installation file with the aim of downloading files.
Kaspersky cautions that functionality has been added to the Trojan that disables Mac's built-in protection system, XProtect. Once XProtect has been disabled, it cannot receive updates from Apple, and effectively becomes useless. According to Kaspersky, it is possible to disable the protection system because developers failed to include a self-defence mechanism.
Kaspersky also warns that once the Trojan downloader has been launched on Mac OS, it protects itself from being deleted and makes the system vulnerable to other malware. “As a result, this particular Trojan is much more dangerous than other OS X malware,” the company says.
According to Namestnikov, there is far less malware for Mac OS than for other operating systems because there are far fewer cyber criminals working in this field. However, he warns that an analysis of the latest OS X malware shows the Mac OS X is now a focus for professional malware writers. “Kaspersky Lab [is] expecting more sophisticated and dangerous Mac OS malware to appear in the near future,” he says.
He adds that the number of malicious programs targeting the Apple operating system is increasing rapidly with the rising popularity of Apple devices.
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