According to antivirus experts, a modified version of the “Flashback” trojan horse virus called “Flashback.G” has been discovered roaming the internet in search of gullible Mac users. The virus disguises itself as an “Apple Inc.” certificate and once installed, it exploits a vulnerability found in older versions of Java Runtime.
Upon successfully wriggling its way into the bowels of OS X, the virus will attempt to harvest and submit sensitive information (usernames, passwords, credit card data, identities, etc.) to a cloud-based service for collection.
However, as previously mentioned, the virus only affects users with an outdated version of Java. So if you’re Mac is running an older version of Java Runtime, simply update it via the “Software Update” feature found in the Mac’s “Apple menu”.
Additionally, in order for the virus to take hold, the user would actually have to download and install it knowing that OS X has automatically detected and marked the “Apple Inc.” certificate as coming from an untrusted source. So with this virus, and any virus that targets OS X, the best protection is common sense – don’t install anything that looks even remotely suspicious.
Stay tuned for more news related to Apple and viruses that are directed towards OS X.
