After years of development, a shift from closed source to open source, and the advent of popular competitors like Alfred, the OS X productivity tool Quicksilver is finally leaving behind the beta tag it has been carrying around since 2003. According to the Quicksilver blog, the new release "means more than just a change in the version numbering system—it signifies a maturity of Quicksilver and a sign of what’s to come."
A new Mac OS X Trojan is making the rounds, installing an adware plugin that renders ads on Web pages to generate revenue for its author.
Dubbed Trojan.Yontoo.1, it is the most prominent of an increasing number of adware Trojans making the rounds, according to Russian antivirus company Dr. Web, the same company that discovered the Flashback virus last year.
Last year, Apple surprised developers and analysts alike by debuting a preview of OS X Mountain Lion, then announcing it was shifting to an annual release schedule for its Mac operating system.
That was Feb. 16, 2012, a year and three weeks ago. So where is OS X "Next," or whatever name Apple chooses for its latest operating system?
Security firms Kaspersky and AlienVault have teamed up to analyze an interesting spear phishing campaign that’s aimed at Uyghur users. Attacks against this community are not uncommon, but it appears that cybercriminals are not willing to give up just yet.
The attackers rely on maliciously crafted Microsoft Word documents which exploit a vulnerability that affects Microsoft Office for Mac. The security hole in question was addressed by Microsoft in the summer of 2009, but it appears it can still be used successfully in targeted attacks.
In April 2008 a Florida company called Psystar arrived on the Mac scene with a desktop hackintosh called OpenMac, a $399 Mac-compatible tower built from generic PC components (naturally, I had to have one.)
Even though Apple released the original MacBook Air in January 2008, it was expensive and not small enough for some users. Enter the $400 DIY Apple netbook built atop a Dell mini 9. (Naturally, I had to build my own.) In April 2009 Dell cut the price of entry in half when it released the ultimate Hackintosh surrogate, the $200 Vostro A90.
Even though the prevalence of threats for the Mac remains relatively minimal, malware on OS X has raised its ugly head a bit in the past few years. Some in the Mac community have been affected by threats such as the Flashback malware, DNSChanger, and the MacDefender Trojan, among others. As a result, while the most effective way of keeping a Mac secure is to follow safe browsing and computing practices, you may also be considering using anti-malware utilities. But which ones perform best?
Five months after its release, Apple's Mountain Lion became the most widely-used version of OS X, a Web measurement firm said Tuesday.
According to California-based Net Applications, OS X 10.8, better known as Mountain Lion, accounted for 32%, or nearly a third, of all Macs that went online during December. That was an increase of nearly three percentage points from November, when Mountain Lion powered just over 29% of all Macs.
2012 was an "exciting" year for OS X security—at least if you're a security expert or researcher. There were plenty of events to keep people on their toes. Although Apple took some egg on the face for some of them, overall, the company came out ahead when it came down to keeping users safe.
At least that's the opinion of some security researchers who followed OS X developments throughout the year.
Fake installers have been around for quite some time now, but so far, they’ve only targeted Windows users. Now, researchers from security firm Doctor Web have identified a variant that’s designed for Mac OS X.
Dubbed Trojan.SMSSend.3666, the malicious element disguises itself as an installer for a popular application called VKMusic 4 – an app that allows users to listen to music on a Russian social media site. During the “installation” process, victims are asked to provide their mobile phone numbers. Then, they’re requested to enter a code received via SMS.
Noted security researcher Kristin Paget (formerly Chris Paget) — known for her work that helped to beef up the security of Windows Vista—is now working at Apple as a Core OS Security Researcher. Paget confirmed to Wired that she has been working at Apple since September but couldn't divulge any specific details of her work.
