Mac users should become increasingly aware of the threat that malware poses to their machines. Hackers and malicious coders are getting better everyday at breaking into the once thought unbreakable Mac. The Flashback trojan was a sign that Macs are no longer safe from the threat of malware. The latest Mac virus to hit the streets isn’t one of those threats.
The latest report of Mac malware come to us from Sophos Security. The malware in question is called NetWeird and it’s definitely interesting. As Sophos points out, the virus is poorly written and really has next to no chance of infecting you. Funny enough, hackers are selling this new virus on the black market for $60.
What does this poor excuse of Mac malware do? It installs itself into the Mac home directory, but it can’t even get that right. The best kind of viruses install themselves as an application so that it’s always running whenever you reboot your Mac. This particular virus installs itself as a folder thus making it pretty much useless.
The team at Sophos also reports that the malware reports back to a server in the Netherlands. If it does infect your Mac, it will be able to run programs and send information all from this remote server. The worst it can do it is send password files from third-party browsers to the host server. Any would be criminal who bought this piece of trash for $60 should be asking for their money back.
Even better, Mountain Lion’s default security settings prevent this particular piece of malware from even being installed. The latest version of Mac OS X will prevent any software not from the app store or a verified developer from being installed.
Although NetWeird is a poor excuse of a virus, it should be taken as a sign. Hackers are turning their attention towards Mac owners. It won’t be long before a much better coder will make some form of malware that will be able to bypass all the security on Mountain Lion and do more damage than previously thought.
It’s always good to remember the basics of dealing with computer security. One should only download apps from trusted sources. Never install anything that sounds too good to be true, because it likely is. Finally, just use some common sense when dealing with potentially suspicious files.