Security firm and software creator Intego has announced this week that a new trojan for the Mac is on the loose and is known as RSPlug.D, a different form of the RSPlug.A trojan. How does it work? First, you must go to a malicious website, particularily some porn sites. Then, when the “Video ActiveX Object Error” comes up and asks you to install a ActiveX object, you must do it. This will download a disk image file from a remote server which will then be able to automatically open its contents on your machine and get to work.
Although it’s interesting to see there is another trojan out there for the Mac, I still don’t think this one is practical at all. For one, it can be easily avoided by simply not going to suspicious websites (of which most browsers are aware anyway). Also, users must agree to install something they may not be so sure about, which is a problem on the end user part, not the operating system. On top of those, even if the trojan does get on your system, it isn’t all that dangerous and can be easily found with a malware program.
Nice try, bad guys, but looks like Mac OS X comes on tops once again.
Via [MacNN]
I wouldn't say OS X comes out on top again. I mean, yeah, the virus may not be that dangerous and may be hard to actually get, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the virus can reach our system. We'll never have it as bad as the PC (how could we?), but this is something that will start happening more frequently.
OS X doesn't come out on top. The virus is counting on users being ignorant about a plug-in. It works in email and on webpages for infecting Windows users. Since I support a large number of Mac users I would say lots would fall for this. And most Mac users I come across don't have any virus protection. If you really want to see porn and you think that the download is going to allow you to view it, most will install. It doesn't matter about the platform.