Mac virus: What you need to know, how to remove it

(Credit: Apple)

(CBS News) Apple Macintosh users have become vulnerable to the Flashback Trojan malware. An estimated 600,000 Mac users have been infected. We've rounded up some of the best ways to check for the Trojan horse and get rid of it.
What is the Flashback Trojan?
First thing to note is that Flashback is not a technically a virus, it's a Trojan horse. Both are malicious software, but the main difference is that a Trojan horse cannot infect other computers. Trojan horses typically seem like helpful software, but once installed they make your computer vulnerable to data theft or keystroke logging, among other things.
The Flashback Trojan, also called BackDoor.Flashback.39, was initially discovered as a fake Adobe Flash Player plug-in installer in September 2011.

CNET: How to remove the Flashback malware from OS X
How to check your Mac for the Flashback Trojan
Dr. Web, who originally reported the number of Mac users infected with the virus, has an online tool to check if you have BackDoor.Flashback.39. There's also a program called FlashbackChecker available at GitHub. If you use the anti-virus program VirusBarrier, it should be able to check and remove the Trojan horse.

How to get rid of the Flashback Trojan
There are a few different ways to get rid of the Flashback Trojan. CNET has a step-by-step guide  to remove the malicious software. There's also a removal guide posted by the Finnish security company F-Secure.

Bogus Speeding Ticket Email Carries Virus

State police in New York are warning about a virus-laden email that appears to be a notice of a speeding ticket.
They say the bogus email is likely to have “Uniform Traffic Ticket” in the subject line and an attached zip file described as a ticket from the Department of Motor Vehicles that can be filled out and mailed to a local court.
Opening that attachment can infect the user’s computer. State police Sgt. Kern Svoboda says reports of the email have been coming in from across the country, starting overnight Wednesday. He says investigators with the Computer Crime Unit haven’t yet identified the type of infection carried by the email.
The email and its attachment shouldn’t be opened. If they are, update and run anti-virus software.

Tech : Apple Promises Software Update to Kill ‘MacDefender’ Malware

Apple's MacBook Air ships with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Apple has published instructions on removing a piece of malicious software that targeted Mac customers. The company claims that an upcoming Mac software update will remove the malware from infected systems.
In a bulletin published Tuesday evening, Apple listed steps to remove the malware, and added that an upcoming software update for Mac OS X would detect and remove the malware, as well. The OS X update will also warn customers if they click on the malware’s Install button, according to Apple.
The malware, called MacDefender, MacProtector or MacSecurity, manipulated customers with a web pop-up warning them that they were infected with a virus. The malware promised to remove the virus, but once installed, it sporadically loaded porn-popups on the computer. The ultimate goal of the malware was to steal credit-card information by convincing people to pay for the fake antivirus software.
Wired.com last week reported an uptick in the number of customers reporting malware-infected machines on Apple support forums and to Apple support technicians. MacDefender was the main culprit among the reports.
The growing presence of MacDefender renewed a timeless debate about the state of Mac security versus Windows security. Security researcher Charlie Miller told Wired.com that while he believed the malware problem was growing worse on the Mac, it’s still a small threat compared to malware on Windows.
Miller and many security researchers agree that the Mac architecture is not inherently more secure than Windows to make it invulnerable from viruses; the idea that Macs can’t get viruses is a myth. The simple explanation is that few virus makers target the Mac platform because it has such small market share compared to Windows.
Apple’s software update and security bulletin provide evidence that a considerable number of customers were affected. However, it’s impossible to know just how many, because Apple has not responded to press inquiries about MacDefender.
ZDNet’s Ed Bott, who was first to discover numerous complaints about MacDefender, claims that one AppleCare agent said 50 percent of calls to the support hotline two weeks ago were related to MacDefender. He also claims that AppleCare receives between 10,000 and 20,000 calls a day, and because MacDefender has been making the rounds for the past 25 days, he estimates between 60,000 and 125,000 Mac customers have reported being infected by the malware.
Just because Apple is issuing a software update does not mean the threat of MacDefender is completely squashed. In an e-mail to Wired.com, ESET security noted that the MacDefender malware continues to evolve in appearance and name to fool naive customers.
“The malware’s name is going to change continuously, and it’s likely the user interface will, as well,” said Dan Clark, vice president of marketing at ESET.