Some people get themselves Apple Macs thinking they’d never be hit by a virus. Apparently, that is not the case anymore. Hackers usually go after PCs, there being so many of them. And, they normally target Windows OS users, since there are also so many of them. Recently, however, anti-virus companies have detected that there is a new Trojan circling the web, looking for Macs. As per initial estimates, about 600,000 Mac users have been hit.

The virus has been named Flashback. It installs malware in victim computers by attacking a Java vulnerability in Mac OS X. Apple was able to plug the insertion point but not before the hackers released it. Some anti-virus companies have also released free software to remove the Trojan from infected Macs.

Protection

There are no reported visible symptoms of the virus, except that infected computers make sporadic connections to unknown servers that can only be seen in the Firewall logs, if any is in place. It spreads via the Java applets which normally are on automatic mode.

Apple has been releasing critical security updates to stop infection. These patches not only remove instances of the virus from infected computers but also disable the automatic execution of Java applets. For those who are not sure if their Macs are indeed infected, it is recommended that they download the patches if they have Java installed on their computers.
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