Oh, the rationalizations people come up with to explain away what they don’t want to hear.
Last week, when I wrote Coming soon to a Mac near you: serious malware, I expected to get an earful from Mac partisans telling me how wrong I was. They didn’t disappoint.
According to a handful of dedicated hackers of Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) computer operating system, OS X, the OS is actually less secure than Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows. But thanks to the OS's small market share (traditionally 5 percent or less) most cybercriminals haven't felt it worthwhile to target the platform. Also, some hackers have misgivings about attacking Unix-like operating systems (e.g. Linux, OS X).
Still, Apple's growing market share and boastful claims of security have lead to an increased interest in attacks and some OS X malware has been popping up of late.
In wearily predictable fashion, security vendors have been quick to warn about increasing volumes of Royal Wedding-related spam, scams and malicious software.
Symantec outlined in a blog post various spam campaigns hoping to cash in on the big day by advertising items including a replica of Princess Diana's engagement ring, a 'limited edition Buckingham Mint Royal Wedding Commemorative Coin' and limited edition customisable mugs and t-shirts.
The shady but usually profitable world of fake antivirus software has arrived on mobiles with the discovery of a nameless Russian language app that claims its victims’ smartphones have become infected with malware.
Discovered by CA, and apparently running on Windows Mobile, this example counts as a pretty crude one by established standards of trickery. The malware is naively similar to the sort of anti-malware programs found in the very different Windows desktop environment, and poorly attempts to impersonate security software from Kaspersky Lab.
A new malicious worm reminiscent of the notorious Stuxnet is reportedly attacking systems in Iran and causing experts to worry that the virus could be used for cyber espionage activities in the U.S. and other countries as well.
Iranian officials are currently investigating the effects of the Stars worm, which is suspected to be equipped with espionage features, Brigadier General Gholam-Reza Jalali told Iran's Mehr News Agency.
Last week I looked at a fascinating sample of malware that specifically targeted users of Google Chrome. Over the past few days, I’ve been looking more closely at this particular malware attack, which appears to be widespread and extremely persistent.
