Kaspersky Lab: Η ολοένα και αυξανόμενη δημοτικότητα των productof hers 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 encountered threats from a malware program within the last 12 months. The survey also showed that the 21% of these digital attacks led to financial losses, including the cost of purchasing system recovery software or using IT services to eradicate "infections".
The Wirelurker, a Trojan detected recently, is a "live" example of malware designed to specifically target Apple products. Six months before its detection, this Trojan had been downloaded 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.
The Trojan could "infect" even non-jail-breaking devices to "download" applications from third party sources. The result was that users of OS X, which was generally considered safe from malware attacks, inadvertently infected devices running iOS, which was 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. Phishing is one such threat.
Interestingly, the percentage of OS X users who experienced financial threats is even higher than the general population that experienced financial threats. Fifty-one percent of OS X users said they had faced financial threats in the past year. Of all users, this percentage had risen to 51%. The statistics are supported by data collected by Kaspersky Security Network. Of all the phishing attacks on OS X detected by Kaspersky Lab between November 43 and October 2013, 2014% were aimed at stealing financial data. In other environments, the economic phishing rate was 44%.
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 digital criminals discover these loopholes security before anyone else, they have a chance 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.
