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SciTech

New Apple malware discovered on eve of OS X release


A new malware targeting Apple's Mac OS X platform has been discovered just as the tech giant prepares to release its Mountain Lion OS –with a security vendor describing its delivery mechanism as "interesting."
 
Sophos said its laboratory received samples of the malware, which it said had been variously dubbed as "Crisis" and "Morcut."
 
"Morcut has kernel driver components to help it hide, a backdoor component which opens up your Mac to others on your network, a command-and-control component so it can accept remote instructions and adapt its behaviour, data stealing code, and more," it said.
 
Sophos said the malicious AdobeFlashPlayer.jar contains a .class file named WebEnhancer, and two unassuming-looking files named win and mac.
 
It added the malware arrived in a file named AdobeFlashPlayer.jar. JAR files are used as a standardized way of packaging and delivering Java software.
 
This makes it easy to deliver a Java program along with all the programming libraries, configuration data, images and support files.
 
Sophos said the malware's author appears to be after cross-platform support, meaning the malware can run also on other operating systems.
 
On the other hand, the malware also contains a "WebEnhancer" file that determins if the PC it is about to infect is running Windows or OS X.
 
"A cursory examination suggests that it's going to be interesting," it said of the payload, but did not elaborate.
 
Meanwhile, Sophos noted cybercrooks now consider Mac users to be worthwhile victims, following the discovery of the new malware that it said can easily target multiple platforms.
 
It advised users to uninstall Java if they do not need it, adding this will leave one less convenience for malware writers. — TJD, GMA News