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Sneakiest Computer Viruses
'Sinowal' Trojan Horse
The next time you upload pictures from your birthday bash or post comments to your favorite social networking site, you may be doing more than putting your reputation on the line and online. You may also be exposing your bank account data to a pretty sneaky Trojan horse.
A Trojan horse called Sinowal, a variant of the Mebroot trojan we reported on back in January, has to date gathered details of more than 500,000 online bank accounts, and may be one of the most advanced and dangerous security risks on the Web, according to Internet security firms that track these sorts of things. The scary thing is that a user doesn't need to click on a pop-up window or do anything else traditionally seen as risky -- the Trojan downloads to the user's computer in the background automatically the minute a user clicks on an infected link.
While initially found mostly on random, unsecure Web sites, the Trojan is now finding its way to popular social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, where it can sometimes be found in those random postings you get on your wall.
This so-called "drive-by" infection is just one of many cropping up all across the Internet, with as many as 1 in 10 sites showing some kind of malicious software risk, according to a Google estimate. How to protect yourself? Unfortunately, not much can be done other than being wary of clicking on anything that seems to random or unfamiliar on popular sites. You can also download a free copy of GMER, which purportedly gets rid of this menace.
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Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsrealitybitesNov 6th 2008 3:49PM
Buy a Mac, none of this nonsense exists on a Mac.
I have 6 Mac's online 24/7/365 unprotected by any virus software, I'm still waiting for my first trojan horse or virus for more than 10 years without any protection what so ever.
Try that with a PC running Windows.....
NickNov 6th 2008 4:24PM
That is because only around 5% of computer owners have a Mac, so hackers would rather spend their time making one that will run on windows than waste their time on a Mac. It doesnt mean that macs can't get a virus its just they are not going to pend their time on a Mac.
breathedeeperJan 8th 2009 8:29AM
all hail the mighty mac!
not.
macs are not that spacial.
the only reason pc's are more prone to viruses is because thats what 95% of computer owners use.
not macs.
we don't care that you think macs are gods gift to earth.
get over yourself.
thanks.
realitybitesNov 6th 2008 5:06PM
Nick,
You are beating a very old horse with that old saw.
The fact that only 15% of the worlds computers are Macs and have no virus's is a good thing, not a bad thing.
You're actually helping me with my point.
Your mistake was assuming that there are Mac based viruii in circulation (there aren't) or Trojan Horses (again, in circulation, there aren't).
I guess it's a good thing that your hackers aren't wasting their valuable time writing for Mac's (they can't, the OS won't let them in).
conorNov 6th 2008 6:15PM
You know, just to nae one...
http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/142
realitybitesNov 7th 2008 10:13AM
Conor,
Before you post a reference to something, you should read it first.
The author states that this Trojan Horse is no threat to the Mac OS as it doesn't attack the OS and this is a Trojan Horse that plays on human stupidity.
Conor, you should read and decide if your posting makes sense:
There are also a number of steps that require user interaction for a system to be infected: the user must first be sent the infected file (manually by email, or automated via iChat instant messaging), then the user must double-click and decompress the image, open the image, and finally provide his administrator account and password for the code to be installed. Once installed, the malicious code attempts to hook the launching of any application in a user's application library, and then inject code into application executables. However, a bug in the virus' coding prevents the launching of any application executable after infection.
So what this means is that even if you do all of the "steps of stupidity" to get this on your Mac, you still have to password the OS to get it to run and even then it's so poorly written, it fails.
Much like the point of your posting
thatgirlJan 28th 2009 7:41PM
One of you is certainly a Worthy Opponent. I could read this fencing match all evening.
realitybitesJan 29th 2009 10:15AM
thatgirl,
you certainly seem like a fine judge of character to me.
little wonder that conor has not responded to my missive.
egloskerryNov 12th 2008 3:17AM
Hey boys and girls! Can you spot the troll?
peanutJan 20th 2009 2:32PM
What most Mac users don't know is that their computers have already been compromised. The thing is that they are not smart enough to notice. They are too busy printing photos or playing with garage band to notice that their credit card and social security info is being stolen.