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New adware targets Mac OSX machines
Users of Apple computers running OS X who may want to think twice before clicking on that online movie trailer, as a new adware targeting their machines has been discovered.
Russian security vendor Dr. Web noted an increase in the Trojan.Yontoo.1 adware, which can download and install a malicious browser plugin, since the start of this year.
"Criminals profit from affiliate ad network programs, and their interest in users of Apple-compatible computers grows day by day. Recently discovered, Trojan.Yontoo.1 can serve as a striking example of such software," it said.
It said cybercriminals can use social engineering to fool Mac users into downloading and installing the browser plugin, such as a movie trailer page.
A user clicks on "Install the plug-in" button is redirected to a site hosting Trojan.Yontoo.1.
"The Trojan can also be downloaded as a media player, a video quality enhancement program or a download accelerator," Dr. Web said.
How it works
When launched, Trojan.Yontoo.1 shows a dialogue window asking the user if they want to install "Free Twit Tube." When the user presses "Continue," the Trojan downloads and installs the plugin Yontoo for Safari, Chrome and Firefox.
"While a user surfs the web, the plugin transmits information about the loaded pages to a remote server," Dr. Web said.
It also gets a file that lets the Trojan "embed third-party code into pages visited by the user."
Windows PCs
Dr. Web noted there is a similar scheme targeting PCs running Microsoft's Windows operating system. — TJD, GMA News
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