Mac  vulnerable to viruses traffic news duiih

 The windows environment is not the only one under attack





 Microsoft is now giving greater priority and importance to the factor security than in the past. Being a very permissive system with program installation outside the, without requiring any authentication the user or ask any special permission to do so (a condition which has improved much since windows NT).


Software developed by Microsoft and included by default in the latest versions of Windows, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, are known to be vulnerable to viruses because they take advantage of the advantage that such programmes are strongly integrated in the operating system giving full, and virtually unrestricted access to the system files.


The inadequate training of a large number of users of this system, which causes are not taken measures by these, because this system is directed on a majority basis to non-expert computer users. This situation is constantly exploited by virus programmers.



In other operating systems such as Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other Unix-based incidents and attacks occur in a very small way. This has traditionally be due to the following factors:

In general programmers and users of BSD Unix-based systems have considered security as a priority so there is more action against viruses such as the need to autenficación the user as administrator or root to install any additional software to the system.
 

The directories or folders that contain the vital files of the operating system have special access permissions, so not any user or program can easily access them to modify them or delete them. There is a hierarchy of permissions and access for users.


Related to the previous point, unlike Windows users, most users of Unix-based systems cannot normally log as users administrators or by the superuser root, except to install or configure software, giving as a result, even if a non-administrator user executes a virus or any malicious software, it not completely damage the operating system Unix only a space or reserved directory commonly referred to as the runtime environment home.





At present, we are witnessing a shift in the attention of attackers. As well as our computer lives they have moved away from what was once the exclusive world of Windows PC, the attackers have also changed their goal .


A virus that infected more than half a million computers Mac revived the debate on whether Apple computers are, as it is often assumed, immune to the virus. One of the reasons that people use to justify the costly purchase of a Mac is that your operating system is more robust when dealing with computer attacks.


The Mac, therefore, have a reputation of being invulnerable. This is not, however, quite true. And a virus that is demonstrated by esparcio recently, affecting 600,000 computers. According to a report by a Russian cyber security firm, the hundreds of thousands of computers were infected by a virus called, in English, Flashback Trojan.  The firm, Dr. Webb, said that half of the computers are in United States. Although Apple released a security update, users who have not yet installed are vulnerable.



Flashback was detected for the first time in September of 2011, when researchers at antivirus found the system, who was disguising as an update of Flash, a video player. Once installed, the virus disables the security of the computer system, and therefore allowed the intruder access to its content. Now get other versions of the virus, involving even a download by the user to access their information.  Dr. Webb told the BBC that, when the Trojan is installed, the intruder receives an email and a code to access the infected computer. "To enter the code the criminals may have control over the machine," said the Chief Executive of the firm, Boris Sharov.

 
Although the Apple system limits the actions that their computers may be performed without the permission of its users, several security analysts said that this incident highlights the fact that computers are vulnerable.



The company Symantec has carefully analysed the latest trends of attacks cybernetical, exploring some of the threats that are beyond the borders of the Windows world. Also discusses some recent phishing scams that are taking advantage of the Olympic Games in London, storage space advertising free online and false discounts from Apple.
 

Apple Macintosh computers were attacked by various threats in different places, the idea that this platform could be compromised en masse, is something that Internet security experts have been warning for years.


"People often think that Apple computers, unlike the Windows PCs, they could not be infected, but this is a myth", told the BBC Timur Tsoriec, an analyst at Kaspersky Lab, a signature of the United Kingdom safety.
 

According to Net Market Share, for example, in February of 2012 85,01% of users were Windows and 4,38% Mac. Wikimedia says that, by February 2012, accessing the website realized by 73.8% in Windows and Mac 7,53%. This is why Mac was not a target of the hackers: because the spectrum of machines that could attack was small.

 
However, the recent growth of Apple is unquestionable, especially thanks to devices like the iPad and the iPhone. Evidenced by the fact that has become one of the most valuable companies in stock market.


Paradigm shift

Why is this change leading? One argument could be that Windows security has improved dramatically, increasing the level of effort required to compromise the security of these computers. In general, arguably we discover the pros and cons of Windows security. But it is equally likely that attackers have simply changed their goals towards new devices because we have done. Consider the following:

• Smartphones are everywhere, and many times it is the first device that a user takes to several computer tasks.


• Mac users are increasing, having reached 10% of the North American market.

• Browsers are independent of platforms; any Internet-enabled device has one. With matches on the basis of codes of the platforms for a browser in particular, threats could theoretically be a platform to another without requiring a significant effort.





"The problem of viruses as the Trojan is that it is difficult to prevent without disconnecting the internet computer," according to the experyos. "The more recommended for Mac users, is that actualizen their security systems and operation just the computer is recommended." No way updates .



Specialists have the certainty that the attackers are now paying greater attention to other platforms over the Windows world. But what is perhaps more worrying is that we are beginning to see a shift towards independent platforms threats.


Neloweg is a bot, with all the features and functionality expected of a bot, nothing unusual in that regard. The novelty is where this bot stays: performs all these actions from within the browser. It is not even touchy on the browser. Attackers have developed it in a way that works equally well in Internet Explorer or Firefox.


So far, Neloweg is actually a specific bot browser Windows, which relies on the Windows registry to store their configuration data. But given that the browser attacks are not all Windows-specific, it is logical to predict that, in the future, we could see this bot on other platforms. We have already seen signs of Neloweg attacking Webkit, the engine of the browser used for Chrome as Safari.



Mobile devices

The increase is almost exclusively focused on the Android platform. Of the hundreds of threats to Android's  mid-2011, have spent thousands in 2012 according to the Lab Mcaffe. Threats to Android already reach almost the 7,000, while our base data close the quarter with more than 8,000 cases of malware for mobile devices in total.


In recent months has increased a considerable amount again adware and malware of door  rear (backdoor) for mobile, with some cases of malware from sending text messages with fee simple premium. Mobile adware shows ads in the phone of the victim without your permission. (This category are not included in the games or applications funded with advertisements) (advertising).




The vast majority of attacks on mobile devices (and the malware used) come and have  as target markets of third parties, especially China and Russia. In the majority of cases, not official Android Market has detected malware in the store. The Google app store It has suffered some incidents, but the figures are moderated. McAfee Labs advised customers only install software from an official store. In this way, they will reduce greatly the risk of attacks on their Android devices.



Back door in Android Trojans are now a little more sophisticated. Instead of only perform an action, use exploits with root access to propagate additional malware. Android/FoncyDropper.A, for example, uses an exploit with root access to control the phone and launch an IRC bot that takes orders from the aggressor. In addition, sending text messages rate premium depending on the country of the SIM card. In the same vein, Android/Rootsmart.A uses an exploit with root access to download Android/DrdLive.A, a Trojan backdoor that sends text messages with rate premium and receives orders for a server control.



Recently the creators of malware created one of the first Trojan for Android destructive,  Android/Moghava.A. Instead of damaging applications, or other executables, the objective of this malware is gain access to the photos. Moghava.A look for the pictures that are stored on the SD card and adds the image of Ayatollah Khomeini to each one of them. The malware is also defective, so continue to adding images until that is not more space on the card. The situation is serious and the conclusions are obvious: we must protect all devices, whether mobile or fixed, containing important data. If not do, cybercriminals they will be "extremely grateful".
 


In short, the increase in attacks is proof that the malware authors now consider Mac computers as a viable field of battle, the same as the Windows platform.  One of every five Macs has malware. What does yours?. This is the header posted on the blog of Sophos. But, as you know anyone that has installed an antivirus for Mac, most of the malware detected by the software infects only computers with Windows.
 

At the beginning of year Trend Micro, company specialized in security in the cloud, detailed a new attack that had an unusual twist: the ability to infect both Mac and PC. The attack begins with social engineering: an e-mail with feelings in favour of Tibet that includes a link. Click on the link leads to the script from a Web site that determines if the system runs an operating system Windows or Mac. At that time, the script brings up a Java applet - designed to establish a proper operating environment, which leaves the Java sandbox and then installs a Trojan application that allows access from rear door to the machine.
 

While the two Trojans are written in different language - Python for Mac and a Windows executable for PC Windows-, the results of infection appear to be the same: "both rear doors are related to the same C & C Server"

In addition, the rear doors have features that include features that allow them to upload and download files that navigate through files and directories on the affected system, which provides more resources for its activities of lateral movement and extra-filtración of data.

In other words, it seems that now the attackers pay more attention to the Mac, so the regulars to the signing of the Apple must keep vigilant and exercise extreme precautions.