Trojan malware 'Puper' targets Macs
Friday, July 10, 2009
Web security researchers have spotted a Trojan malware called Puper that disguises itself as a Mac Cinema installer that attempts to download other malware.
According to security researchers at McAfee, the attack appears to users as a disk image, which launches an installer application for the phony Mac Cinema software. Once the installer completes its task, the user becomes infected with a script file named AdobeFlash.
The malicious script launches itself every five hours and attempts to download and launch other malware, McAfee reported.
Last month, security researchers at Sophos spotted a similar Mac Trojan that disguised itself as a video codec. Called Jahlav, the malware came embedded in what appeared to be a pornography site that required users to download the file to see video.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said Mac users need to be aware that they are not immune from the threat of viruses, even though most hackers target Windows users.
"Some Mac users may have thought that it was safe to surf for porn on their Apple Mac, but they were wrong," he said.
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