Kaspersky Lab: The growing popularity of its products Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), has led to an increase in the interest of digital criminals for OS X and iOS. This poses a threat to both data, privacy and users' money.
Research of Kaspersky Lab and B2B International revealed that one in four Mac users have experienced threats from a program malicioussoftware within the last 12 months. The survey also showed that 21% of these digital attacks resulted in financial losses, including the cost of purchasing system recovery software or using the services of IT specialists to neutralize the "infections".
The Wirelurker, ένα Trojan που ανιχνεύθηκε πρόσφατα, αποτελεί «ζωντανό» παράδειγμα κακόβουλου λογισμικού που έχει σχεδιαστεί με στόχο ειδικά τα προϊόντα της Apple. Έξι μήνες πριν τον εντοπισμό του, το Trojan αυτό είχε γίνει download over 356.000 times, through an alternative app store, so it could have "infected" a significant number of computers. What makes Wirelurker unique is that it exploited a previously unknown vulnerability to spread to Apple devices running iOS software that were connected to an "infected" computer.
Trojan could even "infect" devices that were not "jail-breaking" in order to "download" applications from third-party sources. As a result, operating system OS X users, generally considered safe from malware attacks, "inflicted" unintentional iOS devices, which were also considered safe.
However, viruses and other types of malicious software are not the only threats to Apple device users. Network attacks and online fraud, for example, do not require malware to be installed on the device being attacked. The Phishing is one of those threats.
Είναι ενδιαφέρον ότι το ποσοστό των χρηστών λειτουργικών συστημάτων OS X που αντιμετώπισε οικονομικές απειλές, είναι ακόμη υψηλότερο σε σχέση με το γενικό πληθυσμό που αντιμετώπισε οικονομικές απειλές. Το 51% των χρηστών που διαθέτει υπολογιστές με λειτουργικό OS X δήλωσε ότι αντιμετώπισε οικονομικές απειλές κατά το προηγούμενο έτος. Στο σύνολο των χρηστών, το ποσοστό αυτό είχε ανέλθει στο 43%. Τα στατιστικά στοιχεία υποστηρίζονται από δεδομένα που συγκεντρώθηκαν από το Kaspersky Security Network. Από όλες τις επιθέσεις phishing σε OS X που εντοπίστηκαν από την Kaspersky Lab την περίοδο Νοέμβριος 2013 – Οκτώβριος 2014, το 44% είχε στόχο την κλοπή οικονομικών data. Σε άλλα περιβάλλοντα, το ποσοστό του οικονομικού phishing ήταν 26%.
OS X users should be alert to other threats that target multiple platforms, such as software vulnerabilities that are installed on their devices. For example, vulnerability Shellshock, which was unveiled in September of 2014, gives digital criminals the ability to run any code, even malicious, on a computer.
If cybercriminals discover these security holes before anyone else, they have the opportunity to exploit the vulnerability for malicious purposes before the operating system manufacturer can fix the problem.
In other words, no system can be considered completely safe from digital threats, and so additional tools are needed to ensure online security. Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, integrated with Kaspersky Internet Security - Multi-Device 2015, offers effective protection against malicious software and blocks network attacks and phishing attacks.
