Earlier this month, Sophos announced its free Mac anti-virus for home users. The product now has 150 000 active users and Sophos has analysed the most commonly encountered malware that Mac users are seeing.
The top 20 most commonly detected malware from just under 50 000 malware reports from users of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition between 2 November and 16 November this year are:
Malware / Percentage of reports
Mal/ASFDldr-A 4.62%
Troj/Javadl-V 3.67%
Mal/JavaKC-G 2.96%
Mal/JavaKC-E 2.36%
Troj/KeygenD-P 1.59%
Mal/JavaHU-A 1.36%
Mal/JavaK-CI 1.35%
Troj/JavaDL-X 1.21%
Troj/Bytever-G 1.11%
Mal/JavaHibis-A 1.06%
Mal/JavaK-CK 1.03%
OSX/Jahlav-C 0.98%
Troj/JavaDL-J 0.96%
OSX/DNSCha-E 0.95%
Mal/Javasnd-C 0.91%
Macl/Conficker-A 0.80%
Troj/JavaDL-W 0.76%
Many of the threats detected are Windows-specific threats that do not attack Mac OS X directly, but can be transferred by Mac machines to other platforms.
However, this list also shows some Mac OS X-specific Trojans, that are typically disguised by hackers on BitTorrent sites, or planted on Web sites as alluring downloads or plug-ins to view videos, and platform-independent Java attacks.
"Mac users cannot afford not to protect their machines. As long as Mac users don't properly defend themselves, they will increasingly be perceived as a soft target by cyber criminals and we will therefore see the volume of Mac-specific malware continue to rise,” says Brett Myroff, CEO of regional Sophos distributor, Sophos South Africa.
“It is reassuring that we've been receiving feedback from users who were surprised to find malware on their Macs. Hopefully, more and more Mac users will start to realise that security isn't just an issue for PC users and they will start to take more measures to protect their computers," he adds.
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Sophos South Africa
NetXactics, trading as Sophos South Africa, is a South African-based company focused on the provision of security solutions. It is the master distributor for UK-based Sophos Plc, one of the leaders in the provision of network access control and endpoint, e-mail and Web security and control solutions for the corporate environment. For more information, visit Sophos South Africa at http://www.sophos.co.za.
Sophos
Sophos enables enterprises worldwide to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Our network access control, endpoint, Web and e-mail solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, we protect over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with our reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognised for our high level of customer satisfaction, we have an enviable history of industry awards, reviews and certifications. Sophos is headquartered in Boston, MA and Oxford, UK.
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