Hackers Rip Apart Apple’s Relative Safety Net

Merchandise such as the Mac and iPhone marketed by Apple are being increasingly attacked by cyber criminals, indicated the latest study by F-secure, destroying the relative safety shield maintained by the Apple Inc. over the years.

During 2006 and 2007, a few types of malware were detected aiming the Macs. As of October, nearly 100-150 types were discovered, informed the Senior Security Expert, Patrik Runald, at F-Secure office in Helsinki, Finland, as reported by UPI on December 6, 2007.

F-secure disclosed that the increase in strikes against Apple seemed to be the handiwork of one particular gang of expert crackers known as the "Zlob" group in the crime world. The gang produces spyware that frequently purports to be an indispensable "video codec", which is a must for watching a copy protected secure media.

The crew of Zlob depends on duping consumers to download and deploy their malware. After it is loaded, Zlob versions usually display false error messages targeted to persuade the user into deploying and purchasing fraudulent antispyware items.

Some others from the malware set also contains trojans designed to quietly reconfigure the DNS server address of the machine.

DNS servers are accountable for changing user-friendly text URLs into computer compatible numerical IP addresses. As soon as the DNS settings are converted on their computers, the Zlob crew is in command of the Internet browser's address.

Year 2007 has turned out to be an outstanding year for the Calif.-located electronics manufacturer Cupertino. Apple has retailed the maximum number of hardware this year as compared to earlier years; however, the bigger user base causes it to become progressively more tempting for cyber-terrorists with malevolent purpose.

Moreover, Mac's market share is currently important enough for hackers to attack, since majority of the time, malware groups don't usually endeavor to create anything which doesn't pay rich dividends.

The increasing security risk could also harm Apple, which has for years boasted about the security benefits of its operating system as opposed to those of Microsoft Corp., whose program is a constant target of cyber-terrorists. Net-enabled iPhone multimedia mobile phones and iTunes digital media players are at target of hackers, F-secure disclosed.

Nevertheless, Apple asserted that it looks at security very earnestly and has an extraordinary reputation for tackling flaws before they target consumers.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 12/21/2007