A Trojan horse which is capable of infecting Macs and stealing passwords from them, as well as disabling the firewall to give open access to hackers, has been discovered by security researchers.

The malicious program comes disguised as something more innocuous and relies on the victim giving it permission to install, security firm Sophos said.

"Like many Windows attacks, this Mac Trojan horse relies on the user giving it permission to install itself. Using social-engineering techniques, the Trojan horse could be disguised as a game, a video codec, or a handy new utility," said Carole Theriault of Sophos.

"Sadly, many Mac users are just as willing as their Windows-based cousins to install a program without careful thought as to safety. We are not witnessing a large-scale attack by this Trojan, but it is worrying to see yet more hackers turning their malevolent gaze to the Mac platform," she continued.

Recently, an analyst said that the increasing frequency of attacks on the Mac OS suggested that cybercriminals now saw Apple platforms as being worthy of attention.

However, it is unlikely that Apple will find this particularly flattering.

www.sophos.com

Back to index