Sophos warns of Apple malware attacks

Virus attacks on the rise

Two new pieces of malware for Apple computers have recently been found, according to Sophos, the IT security and control firm.

The first is a worm, called Tored-Fam. It is one of the Tored family-malwares and spreads through email attachments. The worm collects email addresses and attempts to forward itself to other computers. A Sophos report says that the worm's source-code indicates that hackers use it to build a Mac botnet known as Raedbot. Reportedly, this is being assembled by a Tunisia-based malware writer named 'Ag_Raed'.

The second malware is a Trojan named Jahlav-C which is embedded in an apparent porn-site. It masquerades as an Activex video codec - required to be downloaded in order to run the site.

In addition, the security firm noted that the hackers behind this attack are targeting Windows computers also, along with Mac OS X.

Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos, claims that the Mac malware threat is real. He stated: “Once the malware is running on your computer, it can download further code from the internet - opening the door for your computer to be infected by scareware, send out spam, or become part of a zombie botnet. Windows users are used to fighting malware, but many Mac users are oblivious of the battle taking place for control of the public's computers.

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