{"id":563,"date":"2012-04-09T18:43:08","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T18:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=563"},"modified":"2012-04-09T18:43:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-09T18:43:08","slug":"flashback-attack-mac-malware-exploit-prompts-urgent-java-update-from-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/flashback-attack-mac-malware-exploit-prompts-urgent-java-update-from-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback Attack: Mac Malware Exploit Prompts Urgent Java Update From Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update (4\/19\/2012):<\/strong> Apple has released a Flashback malware removal tool which, according to Apple, “removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware” — for details, see Apple’s Knowledge Base article here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/support.apple.com\/kb\/DL1517<\/a><\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

A Trojan Horse attack known as “Flashback” has infected more than half a million Macs around the world<\/a> according to Russian antivirus software vendor Doctor Web, prompting Apple to release an urgent Java update<\/a> to address security issues exploited by the malware.<\/p>\n

Per Apple’s knowledge base article on the Java Update, “Multiple vulnerabilities exist in Java 1.6.0_29, the most serious of which may allow an untrusted Java applet to execute arbitrary code outside the Java sandbox. Visiting a web page containing a maliciously crafted untrusted Java applet may lead to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the current user.<\/strong> These issues are addressed by updating to Java version 1.6.0_31.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Island Technologies strongly advises that all Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.7 (Lion) users immediately install Apple’s Java Update.<\/strong> If you’ve been waiting for a reason to upgrade your version of OS X, now is the time to do it\u00a0 — Apple is no longer providing OS X updates for versions prior to Snow Leopard, which will remain vulnerable to Flashback and other Java-based exploits.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Flashback works by tricking users into thinking it is a legitimate browser plug-in, required to view content on a (malicious) web site.\u00a0 Once installed, it acquires passwords and other personal information from web browsers and other internet-enabled software, and relays the ill-gotten info back to remote servers, presumably for use in credit card fraud and identity theft.\u00a0 The most recent version of the malware, which exploits a Java security flaw, can install itself without requiring the user to do anything (beyond visiting a malicious web site).<\/p>\n

CNET News has a very helpful article<\/a> up providing in-depth information on Flashback and how to detect and remove it from your system, but it requires some familiarity with Apple’s Terminal command-line interface.\u00a0 If you require assistance in dealing with this troublesome malware, please do not hesitate to contact Island’s Support Team at 818.832.2310!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update (4\/19\/2012): Apple has released a Flashback malware removal tool which, according to Apple, “removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware” — for details, see Apple’s Knowledge Base article here: http:\/\/support.apple.com\/kb\/DL1517 ### A Trojan Horse attack known as “Flashback” has infected more than half a million Macs around the world according to Russian … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,73,77,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-solutions","category-security","category-services","category-tech-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islandtechnologies.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}