Saturday, April 14, 2012

Pinoy Mac users warned vs Flashfake malware


source: gmanetwork.com


Mac users in the Philippines were advised Saturday to check if their machines are patched against a Java vulnerability that leaves them open to attack by the Flashfake malware.

Kaspersky Labs said its initial analysis showed a "small" portion of the infected Mac computers were from the Philippines.

It urged computer users to check if they are vulnerable by visiting the site www.flashbackcheck.com.

"(The) Philippines is among the countries that contribute the average count of (up to) 2,547 (infected computers)," it said in a news release, citing a blog entry by Kaspersky security expert Igor Soumenkov.

However, it noted most of the victims appeared to be from developed countries.

It said the United States had the most infected computers (300,917) followed by Canada (94,625), the United Kingdom (47,109) and Australia (41,600).

Also, it found infections in France (7,891), Italy (6,585), Mexico (5,747), Spain (4,304), Germany (4,021), and Japan (3,864).

Kaspersky said its earlier estimates indicated more than 600,000 Mac computers were infected by Flashfake.

It said the botnet is being distributed via infected websites as a Java applet that pretends to be an update for the Adobe Flash Player.

"About 670,000 computers worldwide, 98 percent of them running Mac OS X, were infected by Flashfake. Kaspersky Lab attests that this is the largest Mac-based infection to date, with the largest number of victims targeting developed countries," it said.

It cited another blog by security expert Alexander Gostev that indicated as many as 670,000 computers were infected.

But Gostev also noted a significant fall in the number of connected bots over the weekend of April 7 to 8.

source: gmanetwork.com

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