It very rarely happens that the Mac Operating System is hit by viruses, if at all. The latest flavor seems to be something called the Flashback Trojan. What this Trojan does is modify the hosts file to redirect the Mac machine to fraudulent servers allowing the collection of sensitive information and data. According to Doctor Web there are around 550,000 Macs infected with the Flashback virus. Doctor Web later on tweeted a correction, saying that there are actually 600,000 Macs infected. Now, what can you do about it?
Thankfully, the Flashback Trojan, to our knowledge, does not cripple your system so it should be easy to remove the virus, even if you're not technologically inclined.
To check if you've got the Trojan, download the Flashback checker tool here. Unzip the file if necessary and run it.
Hopefully, if you don't have the virus you should see this:
Upon seeing this, it will be clear to you that you do not have the Flashback Trojan.
I ran the scan and it appears that I am infected. What do I do?
If your computer has been infected, you will need to open up Terminal. This can be found in the Utilities folder under Applications. You will need to manually remove the infection. You will need to carefully follow the instructions for removing the infection at F-Secure.
How can I prevent myself from attaining viruses in the future?
Turn off Safari's auto-open command
In Safari, go to the General section of the preferences and uncheck the option to "Open safe files after downloading." Safari may not open applications, but when checked it will open documents and media that may contain malicious executable code. It is recommended that this option is disabled/turned off.
If something asks you to install an item on your system, shut it down and confirm the source of the item. Only install programs on your system if you know exactly where they came from.
0 Blogger:
Post a Comment