Over half a million Macs infected

[Recursion]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17623422

Funny.

[FlyingJesus]

lol was only ever a matter of time tbh, the only reason Macs don't usually get infected is because no-one bothers writing malware for them since the aim is to infect as many as possible

[JerseySafety]

haha thats why you dont get a mac. windows ftw <3

[dirrty]

at least it's rectified now with the software update, but not really surprised.


haha thats why you dont get a mac. windows ftw <3
that's legit one of the most stupid things i've read this past week.

[peteyt]

at least it's rectified now with the software update, but not really surprised.


that's legit one of the most stupid things i've read this past week.

I wouldn't call it stupid. I saw this on my phone today on my break at work and had a silent chuckle. I feel Macs could be more dangerous because at least users on Windows, or the majority of them at least, know the actual risks with viruses. While on the other hand, as Macs have seemed to be marketed as unbreakable, a lot of its users will have been lured into a false sense of security and this will be a big shock to them.

As people are saying - Mac's only have less viruses because their isn't a big enough user base - virus developers can make a lot more money scamming Windows users over Mac users. I know people think Mac's are more secure, I wouldn't have a clue to be honest but it shows that nothing these days can be perfect. I also heard that Mac's are often the first to be hacked at this hacker event things.

[dirrty]

I wouldn't call it stupid. I saw this on my phone today on my break at work and had a silent chuckle. I feel Macs could be more dangerous because at least users on Windows, or the majority of them at least, know the actual risks with viruses. While on the other hand, as Macs have seemed to be marketed as unbreakable, a lot of its users will have been lured into a false sense of security and this will be a big shock to them.

As people are saying - Mac's only have less viruses because their isn't a big enough user base - virus developers can make a lot more money scamming Windows users over Mac users. I know people think Mac's are more secure, I wouldn't have a clue to be honest but it shows that nothing these days can be perfect. I also heard that Mac's are often the first to be hacked at this hacker event things.
i called it that because saying "that's why you don't get a mac. windows ftw" is pretty stupid. windows pc/laptops (as everyone essentially knows) are the main targets when it comes to viruses, and i don't even wanna know how many of them are supposedly infected by whatever viruses are currently floating around (pretty damn sure it's more than half a million). nevertheless, i'm not saying one is better than the other as i generally don't care for comparisons, but by stating that windows are essentially better because of this is daft (which seems to be what the guys original post was insinuating). anyway, **** happens to people who aren't prepared, don't update often, don't take decent precautions nor use adequate firewalls, scanners etc., regardless of the operating system.

[GommeInc]

Both types of computer are completely safe, it's the ignorant sacks of flesh behind it them that are stupid enough to not know what they are downloading. That said, blind arrogance about how a computer system automatically makes you safe is so incredibly stupid so more fool those who thought they were safe.

[peteyt]

Both types of computer are completely safe, it's the ignorant sacks of flesh behind it them that are stupid enough to not know what they are downloading. That said, blind arrogance about how a computer system automatically makes you safe is so incredibly stupid so more fool those who thought they were safe.

I actually partly disagree. While most viruses are easy to spot there are rare cases - I heard of a problem at one point that could mean going to a domain like google.com could take you somewhere completely different can't remember what it was though.

I mean take browser bugs for example - you can be as secure as you want avoiding dangerous sites and avoiding clicking certain files and links but if there's a security hole in the software you are using that has yet to be identified there's a chance things could go bad.

[FlyingJesus]

I heard of a problem at one point that could mean going to a domain like google.com could take you somewhere completely different can't remember what it was though.

That's usually where the virus sets up a proxy in your internet settings which makes everything appear normal but actually running all sorts through your system and redirecting you to other insecure sites in order to spread the nastiness. It does require infection to have happened previously though, it's not something you can just pick up from Google

[Plucked]

I'll admit... this did make me giggle a bit. Macs are supposed to be "free from infection" - and this proved them wrong.

[peteyt]

That's usually where the virus sets up a proxy in your internet settings which makes everything appear normal but actually running all sorts through your system and redirecting you to other insecure sites in order to spread the nastiness. It does require infection to have happened previously though, it's not something you can just pick up from Google

I can't remember where I read it but I'm sure a big bug was found with something in the way URLs where handled themselves or something. It was in some computing magazine I think.

[Conspiracy.]

http://gizmodo.com/5899352/mac-flashback-trojan-find-out-if-youre-one-of-the-600000-infected

I'm clean. I've also installed the "Java for OS X 2012-002" update.

Once there's a new infection on the loose for Mac everyone knows about it. There are new Windows viruses/malware/spyware/trojans everyday. I feel safer with my Mac, the statistics prove why.

[Tomm]

Well considering Oracle patched Java to fix the issue that this virus exploited back in Febuary but it has taken Apple until now to patch the Mac OS X version of Java I would not be so confident especially when this could of been avoided so easily by Apple.


http://gizmodo.com/5899352/mac-flashback-trojan-find-out-if-youre-one-of-the-600000-infected

I'm clean. I've also installed the "Java for OS X 2012-002" update.

Once there's a new infection on the loose for Mac everyone knows about it. There are new Windows viruses/malware/spyware/trojans everyday. I feel safer with my Mac, the statistics prove why.

[Accipiter]

Quite frankly I think Mac's are generally for lazy people, you can buy a windows computer for half the price of a mac with the same quality, and you get a sense of achievement when you actually keep it running at speed.

All you do with a mac is boot it up, and have far to many ways to execute 1 command, the only praise I give mac's is for its Media Software. It took a backwards step with wireless keyboards and mice, can't stand the things!

[Mollie]

Well this is really unheard of aha. I keep hearing from mac-owners that they are completely untouchable, virus wise. But hey, I suppose they've been proven wrong! Good.

[Conspiracy.]

Like I've said in other threads I CAN use Windows and I KNOW how to protect them. I just prefer the Mac OS in general. I just find Windows awkward to use :/ it shouldn't feel that half-arsed.

[GommeInc]

I actually partly disagree. While most viruses are easy to spot there are rare cases - I heard of a problem at one point that could mean going to a domain like google.com could take you somewhere completely different can't remember what it was though.

I mean take browser bugs for example - you can be as secure as you want avoiding dangerous sites and avoiding clicking certain files and links but if there's a security hole in the software you are using that has yet to be identified there's a chance things could go bad.
Hence why I said computers, not browsers :P That said, browser loopholes like browser hijacks which I think are the ones you are describing are easy to avoid and not necessarily harmful unless you click the suggestions the fake websites supply. I think one example is called the search-nu.com hijack, which isn't a virus but can lead to them if you're not vigilant or careful with what sites you click on. It's like people calling this Mac issue a virus, when it's a malware/Trojan issue which is very different - or that's what I'm led to believe by The Guardian and the BBC :P

[Recursion]

Apple's history of waiting for large updates to be released onto Software Update before they roll out security updates doesn't particularly fill me with confidence. Apple just seems to take security as a secondary "we have to do this because we're told to" sort of thing imo.

[aidant]

Macs are all java, really easy to write viruses for.. thats when you know java well and when you know all the OSX java includes. My copy of windows 7 i have had for 3 years without any antivirus protection, and ive never had a virus. In fact viruses on windows are quite rare now days, you will only get them on torrents or illegal things.. So if you get one basically you where on a bad site (remember you have to approve a program before it can run on windows 7 therefor not allowing viruses to run and company sites will not have viruses). Macs have had many viruses in the past, there just not known to the public due to apples advertising the fact they "have none". Truth is macs are very likley to get a virus, in fact a few years ago my uncle got one and his computer no longer worked.. macs have no bios so he was unable to fix it. Apple would not give him a new mac and they could not fix it. He ended up spending £2000 just to buy a new mac for his work, and he had to redo everything he had done on his old mac because your unable to get harddrives out of them.

What my rant is saying is, no os is save from viruses no matter what the creator says. People just believe what they say because they have little computer knowledge.

[Accipiter]

Macs are all java, really easy to write viruses for.. thats when you know java well and when you know all the OSX java includes. My copy of windows 7 i have had for 3 years without any antivirus protection, and ive never had a virus. In fact viruses on windows are quite rare now days, you will only get them on torrents or illegal things.. So if you get one basically you where on a bad site (remember you have to approve a program before it can run on windows 7 therefor not allowing viruses to run and company sites will not have viruses). Macs have had many viruses in the past, there just not known to the public due to apples advertising the fact they "have none". Truth is macs are very likley to get a virus, in fact a few years ago my uncle got one and his computer no longer worked.. macs have no bios so he was unable to fix it. Apple would not give him a new mac and they could not fix it. He ended up spending £2000 just to buy a new mac for his work, and he had to redo everything he had done on his old mac because your unable to get harddrives out of them.

What my rant is saying is, no os is save from viruses no matter what the creator says. People just believe what they say because they have little computer knowledge.

I'm pretty sure you can open the BIOS on a mac by holding the cmd key and p or something on boot up...

I also think if you just insert the MAC Disc that comes with it that opens on the bios if you put it in

[AlexHenry]

Very interesting, thanks for posting! My mum just got a Mac and to be honest, it's really hard to use after being a Window user for like your whole life - does look nice though! :)

[Conspiracy.]

Am I the only one who found it easier to use after using Windows all my life? The only thing that confused me at first was that the top menus don't follow the window.

[Accipiter]

Am I the only one who found it easier to use after using Windows all my life? The only thing that confused me at first was that the top menus don't follow the window.

I think it depends on your mindset, I can generally sit down with any OS or software and crack on with it. I don't know how macs can be hard to use though since they have about 9 different ways to do 1 command!

The only thing I dont get is why apple is so against setting a default right click!

[triston220]

That's usually where the virus sets up a proxy in your internet settings which makes everything appear normal but actually running all sorts through your system and redirecting you to other insecure sites in order to spread the nastiness. It does require infection to have happened previously though, it's not something you can just pick up from Google

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that if you're DNS poisoned you don't need to have been previously infected.


Macs are all java, really easy to write viruses for.. thats when you know java well and when you know all the OSX java includes. My copy of windows 7 i have had for 3 years without any antivirus protection, and ive never had a virus.

Undoubtedly, you've been infected.

[HotelUser]

I'll admit... this did make me giggle a bit. Macs are supposed to be "free from infection" - and this proved them wrong.

haha thats why you dont get a mac. windows ftw <3

(Does quoting you both still send you notifications saying I've replied to you? It looks like the schematics for mentions/quotes have changed to a subset of both the old, and a new plugin)

Nobody said OS X was completely impenetrable and nobody would suggest that in the first place. OS X is still targeted a lot less than Windows. It was targeted less before this virus and it still isn't targeted after the virus, so to Pension; this doesn't prove anyone wrong because nobody claimed OS X was 100% safe from viruses (that would be a silly claim to make anyway), and to JerseyShore; are you suggesting you shouldn't use OS X because of a virus scare, when there are even more virus scares on Windows? That seems inconclusive to me :P

[GommeInc]

(Does quoting you both still send you notifications saying I've replied to you? It looks like the schematics for mentions/quotes have changed to a subset of both the old, and a new plugin)

Nobody said OS X was completely impenetrable and nobody would suggest that in the first place. OS X is still targeted a lot less than Windows. It was targeted less before this virus and it still isn't targeted after the virus, so to @Pension this doesn't prove anyone wrong because nobody claimed OS X was 100% safe from viruses (that would be a silly claim to make anyway), and to @JerseyShore are you suggesting you shouldn't use OS X because of a virus scare, when there are even more virus scares on Windows? That seems inconclusive to me :P
Depends who you mean by nobody :P On this forum then yes you are correct, I don't think i've seen anyone explicitly state that a Mac or OS X is safe. However, beyond the realms of common sense Apple and their sheep continuously advertise OS X as a safe haven from mean, nasty old viruses. In my opinion, people who do believe in marketing statements like the ones made by Apple deserve all the viruses they may get, for believing marketing ploys as scripture and being too thick to function.

[Recursion]

Macs are all java, really easy to write viruses for.. thats when you know java well and when you know all the OSX java includes. My copy of windows 7 i have had for 3 years without any antivirus protection, and ive never had a virus. In fact viruses on windows are quite rare now days, you will only get them on torrents or illegal things.. So if you get one basically you where on a bad site (remember you have to approve a program before it can run on windows 7 therefor not allowing viruses to run and company sites will not have viruses). Macs have had many viruses in the past, there just not known to the public due to apples advertising the fact they "have none". Truth is macs are very likley to get a virus, in fact a few years ago my uncle got one and his computer no longer worked.. macs have no bios so he was unable to fix it. Apple would not give him a new mac and they could not fix it. He ended up spending £2000 just to buy a new mac for his work, and he had to redo everything he had done on his old mac because your unable to get harddrives out of them.

What my rant is saying is, no os is save from viruses no matter what the creator says. People just believe what they say because they have little computer knowledge.

Macs use EFI, not BIOS, but even still... if you whack the OS X disk in you can easily reinstall....

Also, Macs are not at all based on Java or integrated with it at all. Mac software generally runs on Cocoa/Objective-C

[Plucked]

(Does quoting you both still send you notifications saying I've replied to you? It looks like the schematics for mentions/quotes have changed to a subset of both the old, and a new plugin)

Nobody said OS X was completely impenetrable and nobody would suggest that in the first place. OS X is still targeted a lot less than Windows. It was targeted less before this virus and it still isn't targeted after the virus, so to @Pension (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=82542); this doesn't prove anyone wrong because nobody claimed OS X was 100% safe from viruses (that would be a silly claim to make anyway), and to @JerseyShore (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=73485); are you suggesting you shouldn't use OS X because of a virus scare, when there are even more virus scares on Windows? That seems inconclusive to me :P
ok sorry for tht m8

[Zak]

I'm clean hooray :)

[JerseySafety]

(Does quoting you both still send you notifications saying I've replied to you? It looks like the schematics for mentions/quotes have changed to a subset of both the old, and a new plugin)

Nobody said OS X was completely impenetrable and nobody would suggest that in the first place. OS X is still targeted a lot less than Windows. It was targeted less before this virus and it still isn't targeted after the virus, so to @Pension (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=82542); this doesn't prove anyone wrong because nobody claimed OS X was 100% safe from viruses (that would be a silly claim to make anyway), and to @JerseyShore (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=73485); are you suggesting you shouldn't use OS X because of a virus scare, when there are even more virus scares on Windows? That seems inconclusive to me :P


the mention worked but not post quote o.0

[Chippiewill]

Macs are all java
Considering Java needs an operating system to run on that doesn't seem at all logical.

[HotelUser]

Considering Java needs an operating system to run on that doesn't seem at all logical.

Technically you're right, you couldn't have an operating system which is 100% completely developed in Java (you would need to dive lower level than that for the bootstrap and kernel) but other than that you can certainly develop an operating system which is mostly java based: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaOS or http://www.jnode.org/ so it would be possible that OS X was primarily Java, even though it's definitely not. Tom's right, OS X is mostly C stuff.

[xxMATTGxx]

Several days after it was first announced that a malware program called Flashback had infected hundreds of thousands of Mac PCs, Apple has now released a patch that is designed to remove the malware threat. The download is now available for Mac OS 10.6 and 10.7 via its automatic software updater.

Apple's support page offers more information about the download. Basically, it's an update for the Mac's Java support, which downloads a new version, Java SE 6 1.6.0_31. The new version supersedes all previous versions of Java for OS X 10.7. In addition to removing Flashback, the update also sets the Java web plug-in program to disable the automatic execution of any Java applets.

Users can manually go into the Java Preferences settings and restart the automatic launch of web Java applets if they wish. However, they should be aware that the Flashback malware infects a Mac PC by loading a Java applet.

As we reported earlier this week, any people that own Macs that still run OS X 10.5 or below should disable Java on their web browser in order to avoid getting hit by the Flashback malware. The program is one of the biggest security threats ever found for a Mac-based PC.

http://www.neowin.net/news/apple-releases-flashback-malware-removal-update

[Recursion]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/04/researchers-uncover-new-espionage-malware-preying-on-mac-users.ars?src=fbk

[GommeInc]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/04/researchers-uncover-new-espionage-malware-preying-on-mac-users.ars?src=fbk
I could of sworn The Guardian or the BBC reported on this too, but the articles seem to of vanished :/

[Richie]

Lets be honest, it was only a matter of time. I love windows but i feel for those mac users that got their system infected.