The iBot network attacks! Nothing will ever be the same…
It’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever be as buggered as PC users—Conficker has infected more than 12 million computers alone—but for once the heathen fan boys actually have something on us. It turns out that a recently discovered trojan carries a more potent payload than originally believed.
Quoting researchers at Symantec, CBC News reports that the first ever bot network of Macintosh computers has been spotted. Moreover, these zombies were infected with the OSX.Iservice (iService) trojavn, which was the payload delivered by illegal copies of Apple iWork ‘09 and Adobe Photoshop CS 4 downloaded from peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
“OSX.Iservice is an interesting piece of malware—not only does it make use of Mac OS internals, but it is also the first Mac botnet that we are aware of,” said Mario Barcena and Alfredo Pesoli, researchers, Symantec Ireland. “With malware authors showing an increasing interest in the Mac platform, we believe that more advanced [user interface] spoofing tricks may be seen in the future.”
Related stories, recommended reading:
— Pirated iWork 09 installation may infect thieves with trojan
— How to remove OSX.Trojan.iServices.A, iServices.B
— MacScan: Is there spyware on my Mac?
— Free antivirus solutions for the Mac
— VirusBarrier X5
The good news here is that the iBot network includes only “a few thousands computers” and likely isn’t of any practical value to cyber criminals, which are known to use networks of millions of PCs to perpetrate denial service attacks or send huge volumes of spam, for example.
Thereupon, although the security experts quoted by CBC don’t come out and say it, this whole affair appears to be an elaborate “proof of concept”—ie hackers trying to put snooty Mac users in their place by highlighting the fact that our operating system of choice (news flash) isn’t secure.
We’re not in Kansas anymore…
That said, don’t download and install software from peer-to-peer networks; get, install and run some anti-virus software (see related stories above); be nice to people and always use a condom…
What’s your take?
Related Posts:
April 17th, 2009
The fact of the matter is that these people agreed to install software with the virus embedded within it. The virus did not simply download in the background and run riot all by itself like most Windows viruses. It has been known for a long time that you can indeed make a virus for Mac. However, as of yet, it has been impossible to make a virus which works without the user ‘installing’ it.
In a way, it should teach people a lesson for downloading software illegally. Its not panic time yet though, because the focus is still windows and people have still not found a way of infiltrating your PC without bundling it with an application – and virtually no legitimate software is going to be bundled with a virus.
April 17th, 2009
LOLOLOL Matt
You are an idiot. You think because it hasn’t been done that it can’t be done?
What an idiot. That just proves Mac’s are for dummies that can’t handle the power to control your PC.
April 17th, 2009
@ncaissie
I clearly said that it has *as of yet* been impossible to make a virus which works without the user installing it. I am not an idiot – it is commonly said that the reason Macs aren’t targeted is because of their low install base. However, coupled with this is the FACT that Macs are more difficult to develop viruses for. At no point have i said that nobody will ever develop a virus for the Mac.
However, I do believe that nobody has developed an independently executable Mac virus yet. I know exactly how to control my PC and run quite an extensive suite of security software on my Windows XP and Vista machines. I still have far more problems on them than on my Mac.
I’m running AVG, Spybot: Search and Destroy, Spyware Blaster, Comodo Firewall, Threatfire Firewall and a few other programs. This is my security suite and I know you can pay for all-in-one solutions, but this works for me. I shouldn’t HAVE to run all this software though, and I don’t have to run anything on my Mac apart from iAntiVirus which I run to be on the safe side. I don’t download illegally so I’m at virtually no risk at the minute on Mac.
I think I know one or two things about computers as well, in all honesty, so I don’t think your comment about me being an idiot was justified. Macs are for people who are interested in media/publishing and for people who are sick of windows. I fit into both of those categories.
April 18th, 2009
Matt, it should be pointed out that most Windows malware are spread through people explicitly installing it as well. Email attachments saying nude-pics.jpg.exe a request to install a dodgy codec to see video on a site. Pop up ads asking you to install PC Antivirus 2009. Malware that just worm their way from PC to PC is rather rare these days, and why not… it’s pretty easy to fool people into installing crap. It’s harder to look up an exploit that hasn’t be closed in Windows.
April 19th, 2009
@ Wes
Good point, a lot of Windows viruses do require them to be installed. I accept this, its a fact. However, there are also a lot of viruses and spyware which just infiltrate through back doors. And the bad thing is that these are normally the hardest to remove because they’re better thought out in the first place as to how to install themselves on a PC. I do a lot of PC repairs in my spare time for a bit of extra cash, and a surprising amount of malware (which admittedly can be stopped if you configure firewalls properly) has been present which installed itself. Similarly there’s also been a lot of user installed malware. Both are present, and while those of us who understand the way viruses/spyware work can prevent it easily, not everybody does understand it all that well and thus many Windows viruses are successful.
I’m not saying Macs are entirely flawless. They have a low market share and generally aren’t targeted, but the fact remains that there are still next to no Mac viruses, and none that can install without user intervention. Will things remain like this? Time will tell I guess, but I don’t think its long before virtualisation software becomes the Mac’s biggest downfall with viruses transmitting from Windows to Mac.