Mac Virus Threat Exploding? Oh, No, It’s a Recycled BS Sales Pitch Again
You might be seeing articles flying around yet again warning of the ever-increasing threat of Mac malware. Run for the hills! Your Mac could be infected! Buy the anti-virus software made by the company generating the warning!
No need to panic, actually. It’s yet another exaggerated threat ginned up by the same group of folks who always use hyperbole to frighten Mac users into thinking there is a great and ever-expanding threat against them. The “report,” published by anti-virus software maker Sophos, makes the claim that the have “revealed” evidence of “cybercriminals moving beyond Microsoft,” meaning they are advancing on Mac users:
…organised criminal gangs for the first time arrived at Apple’s doorstep…hackers are extending their efforts beyond Windows…until recently, organised criminal gangs have not felt the need to target Mac users…late 2007 saw Mac malware not just being written by researchers demonstrating vulnerabilities or showing off to their peers, but by financially-motivated hackers who have recognised there is a viable and profitable market in infecting Macs alongside Windows PCs. For example, many versions of the malicious OSX/RSPlug Trojan horse, first seen in November 2007, were planted on websites designed to infect surfing Apple Mac computers for the purposes of phishing and identity theft.
Note the deceptive language, pretty much an outright lie: “gangs” (which are organized!) and “hackers” and more “gangs” (criminal ones!) and “hackers” exploiting a “profitable market” of attacking Mac users, with one “example” giving the direct impression that there are other examples.
Wow! It sounds like veritable armies of hackers and criminal organizations are massing like Orcs in The Lord of the Rings and are flooding the market with multitudinous malware aimed at victimizing Mac users!
When in truth, it is one criminal organization (which probably employs one or more hackers) which has released one piece of malware (with variations). The “report” makes the claim that “6000 infected webpages every day” are found, and suggests that all are aimed at the Mac via OS detectors, but does not firmly state whether all have the Mac version of the software. Nor do they provide even one actual discovered real-world instance of a Mac user actually being affected by the trojan, just as they do not report the long string of stupid errors a Mac user must make in order to be affected by the trojan. The “trend” they refer to is a grand total of one malware package, a trojan, with no evidence of actual harm achieved.
In order to download the actual report, you are required to provide an email address and are given the option of have Sophos spam sent to your mailbox. Personally, I declined the generous offer.
Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.