[X4U] Recent Malware Threats; What To Do

[Randy B. Singer]

On Apr 6, 2012, at 12:23 PM, Marcel Vachon wrote:

> The only thing that I am uncertain about is, other than crashing  
> the Mac, what are the other downsides of the virus?  Does the  
> malware steal the users passwords and mail them back to a home base  
> somewhere? Does the malware slow the system down a lot? Is the  
> virus passed on to others via infected email?

Well, first, at this point, Flashback is no longer technically a  
Trojan Horse.  It no longer uses social engineering to infect Macs,  
and user interaction is no longer necessary for it to install  
itself.  Someone called it a "drive-by infection" that you get from  
an infected Web site.  It isn't a virus because it doesn't self- 
propagate.

It does a bunch of nasty things...all of what you mentioned except  
for mail itself out or infect others.


___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
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