RE: mac trojan in-the-wild
> For whoever didn't hear, there is a Macintosh trojan in-the-wild being
> dropped, infecting mac users.
> Yes, it is being done by a regular online gang--itw--it is not yet
> another
> proof of concept. The same gang infects Windows machines as well, just
> that now they also target macs.
>
> http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/screenshot-of-new-mac-
> trojan.html
> http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/mackanapes-can-now-can-feel-
> pain-of.html
>
> This means one thing: Apple's day has finally come and Apple users are
> going to get hit hard. All those unpatched vulnerabilities from years
> past
> are going to bite them in the behind.
Let's not over-hype this-- while "Apple's day" has been coming, saying
that users
will be "hit hard" on something the user has to manually download,
manually execute,
and explicitly grant administrative privileges to is *way* over the top.
> I can sum it up in one sentence: OS X is the new Windows 98. Investing
> in
> security ONLY as a last resort losses money, but everyone has to learn
> it
> for themselves.
Not "the new Windows 98" by a long shot - saying that is just
irresponsible. While Apple is not used to dealing with security in the
same way that other companies are, comparing OSX to Windows 98 is not
only a huge technical inaccuracy, but you also insult MAC users out
there. OSX had "UAC-like unprivileged user controls" way before Vista
did - let's not try to start some holy-war on this like people have
tried to do with Windows vs Linux in the past.
If you want to report this, then report it-- but say what it is, a
totally lame user-must-be-drunk "exploit" that requires that all manner
of things go wrong before it works -- otherwise people will think that
you've dressed up as Steve Gibson for Halloween.
t