Mac OS X system have been affected by a new Trojan virus which finds its way around the operating software’s in built anti-malware protections.
The malware appears as “Trojan-Downloader;OSX/Flashback C” and imitates the installer software for popular plug-in Adobe Flash Player. This harkens back to a scam in 2009 which was fortunately remedied with anti-virus updates to the Apple desktop OS, such as XProtect, and more recently with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. The tricksters behind the virus have since updated their malicious software and it can now bypass all earlier installed updates.
The Flashback C virus is activated when a users enters their admin password into the fake Flash Player installer, decrypting paths within the XProtect software and replacing them with blank files. This removes the software’s ability to auto-update and keep the anti-malware protection up-to-date and relevant.
The tech security company which discovered the Flashback C Trojan is F-Secure and its blog reports “Attempting to disable system defenses is a very common tactic for malware and built-in defenses are naturally going to be the first target on any computing platform.”
F-Secure has offered support for Mac OS X users on the blog to protect them from the new virus and remove it should they already be affected. That article can be read in full – Here.
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