Flashback Botnet..Mac finally gets infected

S

scotty

Guest
I don't know about you, but this recent Flashback botnet has been a pain in my a$$!

I work for a large organization, and in one day I got notification of 700 machines infected with this! Basically it seems to only install itself onto machines with no Anti-Virus, which is around 90% of all Macs..no wonder it exploded so fast!

So my past few days have been super fun, tracking down and cleaning all these machines!

What do you guys think of this recent news, over hyped or the dawn of more to come for Mac users?
 


I think it's both over-hyped and unfortunate; if the whole thing was preventable with some simple anti-virus or anti-malware software then it never should have happened. The Mac community really shouldn't be spreading misinformation such as "Macs don't get viruses/malware - you don't need protection".
 
I think that this will make the cult of Mac more aware of their position. As any operating system grows in use it becomes a larger target. Every system that is out there on the internet is a target, but some are just have a bigger bullseye.
 
I agree, I think at least in my organization, the reason people have bought Macs is that they don't need to use the Cisco Clean Access, or really worry about technically knowing anything. I think Mac is so popular now it has to be a target, it cannot continue to run without at least a basic AV.

I have contacted all the people infected I can find, and almost of them have replied saying "I don't know how to download an Anti-virus" or "Macs don't get viruses".
 
I agree, I think at least in my organization, the reason people have bought Macs is that they don't need to use the Cisco Clean Access, or really worry about technically knowing anything. I think Mac is so popular now it has to be a target, it cannot continue to run without at least a basic AV.

I have contacted all the people infected I can find, and almost of them have replied saying "I don't know how to download an Anti-virus" or "Macs don't get viruses".

Very interesting, I have a friend who stubbornly won't address the Av situation - I think I will draw his attention to this post. he seems to think MAC is invincinble mo' foo him!
 
Yeah it is not! This virus isn't anything too nasty, but it targets Macs without Avs. You can get both Clam AV and Kaspersky for Mac for free. So there really is no reason to be running bare assed.
 
I only recognize leopard and mac for design and media production. Otherway I consider apple disposable.
 
I think this is normal even on Windows based systems, maybe you're office should have invested some good amount on an Anti-virus that would have prevented this from happening in the first place.

And botnets usually do target large organizations running computers with paid OS's.
 
We distribute McAfee (which I hate) for free to everyone in the organization. It is optional for Macs, as it is for all machines, everyone with windows has it installed, almost 0 of the macs have it, unless the departmental admin is particularly savvy. We have around 800 Macs in our entire business and out of those 700 were infected from this one botnet.
 
As a Linux user, I must confess that I have enjoyed a sense of superiority over those other surfs using virus-prone Windows. It's a simple fact that almost all malware attacks Windows. Years ago, I read that there were two viruses (two!) that attacked Linux, but a total of about 50 computers were compromised, and not very badly at that.

But the Mac was supposed to be similarly invincible. Now it's not. This concerns me some. Although, AFAICT from reading a couple articles, there doesn't seem to be any loss or theft of user data--it's just a nuisance for the user.

Money is being stolen from someone, but I couldn't figure out if they're stealing from Google or advertisers.
 
OS X was initially to blame as Java fixed the patch in February but, as required by Apple, was given to Apple to review and distribute via their own update schedule. So the short version is:Java has exploit. Java makes patch. Patch released as early as February. Apple requires Java to have Apple distribute it. Apple fails to distribute it on timely basis. Mac's get infected.In that scenario, yes it's Apples fault. It's one thing to have an infected computer. It's a whole different issue to have an infected computer where the infection could've been protected again as early as February.
 
OS X was initially to blame as Java fixed the patch in February but, as required by Apple, was given to Apple to review and distribute via their own update schedule. So the short version is:Java has exploit. Java makes patch. Patch released as early as February. Apple requires Java to have Apple distribute it. Apple fails to distribute it on timely basis. Mac's get infected.In that scenario, yes it's Apples fault. It's one thing to have an infected computer. It's a whole different issue to have an infected computer where the infection could've been protected again as early as February.

Spot on, one thing about this also is the timing. It seems as Apple have been having issues with new iPad and iPhone releases this distracted the news from the communications department for a while lol
 
Im surprised you got infected if I had mac I wouldn't worry about anything but know that you told me this ill just stick with Linux.
 
I knew it was going to eventually happen to Mac's. But people are over hyping it way to much swearing they will be the next victim to be infected. People need to calm down and just install a Anti-virus which Mac has now.
 
I don't know about you, but this recent Flashback botnet has been a pain in my a$$!

I work for a large organization, and in one day I got notification of 700 machines infected with this! Basically it seems to only install itself onto machines with no Anti-Virus, which is around 90% of all Macs..no wonder it exploded so fast!

So my past few days have been super fun, tracking down and cleaning all these machines!

What do you guys think of this recent news, over hyped or the dawn of more to come for Mac users?

It was just really a matter of time till the Mac gets infected, its no big deal :)...
 
Yeah it got... I also have OS X installed, but it's only a Hackintosh. I hate it when people say that Macs can't get infected, and that they don't have viruses. They have, but not as many as Windows. That's just because more people use Windows than Mac, so virus makers don't target Mac users. As the number of Mac users grow, so will the number of viruses.
 

Members online


Latest posts

Top