Mac Malware Getting Worse

ZD Net, Ed Bott ^ | 05/06/2011 | Ed Bott

[johncatl]

Over the weekend, I got an e-mail from an AppleCare support rep, who was responding to my recent reports of Mac malware being found in the wild. At least one prominent voice in the Mac community dismisses these reports as “crying wolf.” The view from inside an Apple call center says it’s for real:

I can tell you for a fact, many, many people are falling for this attack. Our call volume here at AppleCare is 4-5x higher than normal and [the overwhelming majority] of our calls are about this Mac Defender and its aliases. Many frustrated Mac users think their Mac is impervious to viruses and think this is a real warning from Apple. I really wish I could say not many people will fall for this, but in this last week, we have had nothing but Mac Defender and similar calls.

I contacted this person and arranged an interview. I’ve edited our conversation to remove any details that might identify this individual or the call center location, but otherwise this is a verbatim transcript.

Update In the Talkback comments, some people express skepticism about these conclusions. Be sure to read my follow-up: Crying wolf? Apple support forums confirm malware explosion. It includes direct quotes from Apple customers caught up by this attack.

[Swordmaker]

You seem to be an example of the condescending Mac user that I spoke of. I claim no great knowledge, but yes, more than the common user. Back in my day, they were called trojan viruses. Perhaps you could google it.

Sorry, no. Never. They are called Trojan Horse programs or application on the grounds they are merely a computer application like any other that will run on a computer that does something malicious other than or in addition to what it is advertised to do. A virus is a specific type of malware that acts like a living creature, capable of self-propagation, self-vectoring, and most importantly, self-installation.

[Swordmaker]

Repost of the Apple call center employee interview article on MacDefender from a couple of days ago—PING!

Please, No Flame Wars, Discuss technical issues, software, and hardware.
Don't attack people!

Don't respond to the Anti-Apple Thread Trolls!
 PLEASE IGNORE THEM!!!

 

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[itsahoot]

Let me understand this, if a Mac user gets a virus, it some how makes your computer run better? Or do just enjoy watching other people suffer? either way, it make you look like extremelysickindividual.

[itsahoot]

I call Pot kettle on that remark, the M$ bigots are plentiful. Just read a few of the posts here.

A thread is posted to inform Mac users of a potential threat, and all the hand clappers who have been beleagured with malware and virus detection software, which in itself could be considered a virus, show up here to gloat as tho they had accomplished something.

[brytlea]

Really, that’s what I don’t get. ALL computer users should hate ALL virus/trojan/malware makers regardless, and yet, it seems that instead we seem to get an us/them mentality between people who should be allies in the war against the real bad guys. Seems a little like Republicans.

[stripes1776]

The malware is written for OS X, but still requires a user to intentionally install it.

Exactly. This software pretends to be beneficial. It requires the user of the computer to be careless enough to enter the administrator password when prompted. Anyone that careless deserves what they get. It's like a total stranger showing up at the front door and dressed up as a policeman. He says that he has a report that someone has broken into your home. "Please let me in so I can check all of your room." Anyone home owner careless enough to let this fake policemen into the house deserves to be robbed.

I mean, I could write a program in about 5 minutes that starts deleting files anywhere on a machine, for pretty much any OS you can name. The trick would be in getting someone to install it and let it run.

True. In fact it would take about 10 seconds to write a one-line shell script that would erase all the files on any hard drive on a Unix-based system. All you need is a computer user careless enough to enter the administrator password.