Trojan hitches ride on pirated Iwork
A SECURITY COMPANY has warned that a pirated version of Apple's iWork 09 software is shipping with a trojan which could take control of the machine.
While many Apple users think they are safe because there have been very few ways of distributing viruses to minority machines, Intego thinks that the malware writers might have hit on a good plan with what they have called OSX.Trojan.iServices.A.
By sticking their Trojans into hot software, it can be guaranteed to find an Apple in the sea of PCs and there is a good chance that the owner knows another Apple user as they tend to hang out in 'smugs' [are you sure that is the collective noun for Apple users? ed]
The Trojan appears as a start-up item as a part of iWorkServices. It has read-write-execute permissions for root control of the computer, Intego said. The malware connects to a remote server over the Internet and allows more stuff to be loaded into the Mac.
More than 20,000 cheapskates have downloaded the virus from several pirate sites rather than getting a kosher free 30-day demo from Apple or stumping up £69 for a full version.
The only sure way for a Mac User to deal with the Trojan so far is to format the hard drive and re-install OSX.
What is amusing is that the Apple press is insisting that it is not 'a virus' because Macs don't get them. Trojans are not the same thing as they cannot spread from one machine to another without help from a stupid user. Also they are denying that it will give anyone control of the machine, when the security advisory says otherwise.
In fact the Trojan will do whatever its bot net rulers tell it to do. All they need to do is write a payload to do it. µ
L'Inq
CNet
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Anyone stupid enough to download pirated Apple software desires whatever happens to them.
1. Downloading software from a public torrent tracker. Stupid, stupid, stupiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid.
2. You have to reformat to get shot of it? Ouch. Nice recovery process, Apple.
Actually, those are the only cock-ups worth mentioning.
Although I do find it laughable that Apple are playing down the problem by spinning with semantics, saying "'snot a virus, so nerrrr!" because it's actually a trojan. Technically accurate, but your typical user is not going to be able to make the distinction between virus/trojan/worm etc.
Oh and I'm loving your choice of cellective noun.
Glad to see he doesn't let minor details like the facts get in the way, or bother to research the original source. If he did he'd discover that the company who reported it happen to sell an AV package that they claim will kill it. Reformat the hard drive? Where did that one come from? Not CNET or Intego.
Firstly I don't think Mac users would download for free. As far as I know they usually like to waste huge amounts of money on Apple products. Apparently this is part of the charm, somehow. Also downloading torrents is indeed stupid because that would be too complex and too risky for them. It's not surprising that the few that went this far got their virus-proof apparatus infected.
Honey if you think that Mac users wouldn't download anything for free, take a look at someone's iTunes Library and their Applications folder some time.
Even at the company I work for, I still catch our Mac users doing the same thing I catch our PC users doing.
*Everyone* likes free. In this case "free" came with a Trojan. The general assumption that Mac users are any different from any other type of user in the world is blatantly erroneous and typical of the "self-righteous Mac user" phenomena.
"1. Downloading software from a public torrent tracker. Stupid, stupid, stupiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid."
Uh, no.
You just can't be a stupid user to begin with...
Unfortunately for mac users though..............dot dot effing dot
The typical Mac user wouldn't have a clue about how to download it anyway. That's why they run OS X on there PC. Could also be said it's why Apple sells them Updates to it's shinny OS, they wouldn't know how to download and wouldn't a clue of how to apply it anyway.
"Smug" is indeed the correct choice, ed, as you would know if you had any opportunity to peek up from you Inqy chores. Also, interestingly enough, the correct collected noun for Apple fanbois what have been infected by an err, Trojan, is "Smeg". Go fargure. Podd people are that lot.
I'm surprised we haven't had a busload of loony fanbois posting "Apples can't have have worms inside" (heh).
An Apple PC is just like any other PC, it can get a virus.