Mac Users With No Anti-Malware Protection Could Be At Risk
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At a recent Virus Bulletin conference one of the attendees found one topic extremely interesting. The topic was about the Russian “Partnerka”, which has been mutated to attack Mac computer systems. The attendee knew that a majority of Mac users have no anti-malware software in place and could be easily infected. At the same conference was a web site, since taken down, that was paying 43 cents for every Mac infection.
Here is what the article stated:
The Partnerka is the complex network of affiliates who profit from spam and malware. Run like a multi-level marketing scheme, if you’ve ever received an email which points you to a “Canadian Pharmacy” website, you’ve met the Partnerka.
Dmitry’s investigations are discussed on Paul Ducklin’s blog - but one thing that jumped out at me in his talk was that there is a faction of the Partnerka (which Dmitry has dubbed the “codec-partnerka”) which is dedicated to the sale and promotion of fake Mac software, designed to compromise your computer.
For instance, the website pictured above (which is no longer online - at least not currently) was recently offering $0.43 to its affiliates every time they managed to successfully install malware on users’ Apple Mac computers. And to help their affiliates in this scheme, they offer dangerous malware posing as fake video players.
Not being a Mac user I am not even sure if anti-malware is available for Apple systems. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
Comments welcome.
4 Comments
Aryeh Goretsky
September 28th, 2009
at 3:08pm
Hello,
I attended Paul Ducklin’s presentation, as well as one by Methusela ‘Meths’ Ferrer from CA/HCL on Mac OS X malware and it seems that a credible threat is emerging for OS X. That this should occur isn’t particularly surprising: Malware authors (and the elements behind them) are motivated by financial gain, and as Apple gains market share, they are going to invest resources into attacking the platform. So far, the type of malware demonstrated is very simplistic, however, I’m sure that it will evolve over time. What is interesting is how Apple will respond to such threats.
In addition to Sophos, Intego, McAfee and Symantec all have Mac products, and I would imagine other vendors have them in various stages of readiness as well.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
mhz
September 28th, 2009
at 3:22pm
Well, I know its a bad attitude, but part of me is just waiting for the publicity of the first large-scale Mac “ownership.” Only because they are so arrogant as to actually use “viruses” as a sales tactic against PC’s.
It will be something to behold when there is a malware infection that not only takes over the Macs, but disables their ability to remove it. (Though it may not happen, since normal users are not usually login=root.)
I’ll feel bad for the users (some of them), but not for the company when they start making excuses about why its not the same as a Windows virus. They have been ignoring the fact that virus problems are inevitable for them, at least until every nook and cranny has been probed and tested and secured. It bothers me a little that they arrogantly claim to be more “secure” when in fact they’re just untested.
They tell the public that they don’t have “virus problems”, which may be true for the most part, but they are equivocating. What they actually MEAN is “we don’t know if we are secure. Nobody bothers us because we are such a small market segment that we’re still statistically irrelevant.”
Their arrogance will probably come back to bite them.
Ron Schenone
September 28th, 2009
at 4:11pm
Hi Aryeh,
Thanks for the info.
mhz,
As Aryeh stated some of the biggest companies have a/v products for the Mac, so there is a problem brewing.
Tom B
October 3rd, 2009
at 1:45am
I’ve been using Macs since 1991 and PC’s since 1987 at both work and home - yes some malware has hit the occasional PC (and web server), but overall the Macs haven’t been hit by anything. Yet.
The main AV companies (sophos, mcafee, symantec and intego) have had mac anti-virus products for well over a decade at this stage.
McAfee have within the past few weeks rolled out their own mac anti malware product which they freely admit is an early release
Realistically one of the strengths of the mac is its use of open source software i.e. many eyes examing code to find issues
This in turn is it’s very weakness - just like Microsoft - users are dependent on apple providing patches - and whilst I suspect there is a higher uptake of patches on the Mac platform, the complacency among mac users is rather depressing