ID: IRCNE2014012066
Date: 2013-01-13
According to "zdnet", research from Intego, the famed Mac antimalware company, shows that the botnet comprised of OSX/Flashback infections, probably the most significant Mac malware ever, still has a pulse, with "...at least 22,000 infected machines."
In isolation, this number may look impressive, but considering the latest research on what versions of OS X are in use in the wild, it's not at all surprising.
Intego discovered Flashback, which appears to be the only serious attempt by a professional malware gang to bring the malware ecosystem to the Mac, back in 2011. By early 2012 it had infected as many as 600,000 Macs, and new variants were using Java exploits and drive-by downloads.
Flashback was beaten down when Apple took notice and measures, using the XProtect feature to blacklist the malware, including a Flashback remover as a security update.
XProtect (officially called File Quarantine) is available to versions 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and up. Apple's Flashback Removal Tool is available to 10.7 (Lion) and up.
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