Macintosh computers have long been overlooked by malware and phishing scams, but as Apple begins to gain market popularity, the chances of a Mac being targeted by one of these scams is increasing.
Macintosh computers have long been thought to be overlooked by malware and phishing attacks, but they are becoming more and more popular with hackers and other online scam artists, as witnessed by the large scale Fakeflash or Flashback infection seen on over half a million Macs this week. Unlike most virus attacks, this particular infestation is occurring by stealth as users do not need to manually click on any malicious links or manually download any malware to get infected.
‚This is hardly the first time Mac users have been hit by a virus,‚ says Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Phoenix Software. ‚Last year, we had Mac Defender, and Fakeflash is far more widespread and sophisticated. Unfortunately, criminals have realised that they can make money targeting Apple users, and as Apple continues to gain market share, it will also see more attacks. This is the start of a new era in which Mac are increasingly becoming the new targets for malware attacks.‚
Campbell-Young adds that this is proof of the necessity of Anti-Virus for Macs. ‚In addition to preventing infections such as this one, a product like Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac prevents users’ Macs from becoming ‚incubators’ for malware and from inadvertently harbouring and spreading PC and Unix malware to colleagues and friends.‚
Kaspersky’s Anti-Virus for Mac is designed exclusively for the Apple machines and supports devices running Mac OS 10.4.11 or higher, including Snow Leopard and Intel processors. This security suite automatically scan files, downloads from the Web and e-mail attachments in real time, disinfecting corrupted files as it goes along and protecting users from the more than 30 000 new malware threats each day.
*