MacControl Trojan Being Used In Targeted Attacks Against OS X Users

Trailrunner7 writes "Welcome to the age of targeted attacks, Mac users. Perhaps having grown tired of owning Windows machines around the world for the last few years, attackers have now taken up the challenge of going after Macs with the same kind of targeted attack tactics that have served them so well in the Windows world. Researchers have found a new attack that employs two separate pieces of malware, a malicious Word document and some techniques for maintaining persistence on compromised machines, and the campaign is specifically targeted at Mac users. The command-and-control domain involved in the attack is located in China and the attack exploits a three-year-old vulnerability in the way that Office for Mac handles certain Word files, according to researchers at AlienVault, who discovered and analyzed the attacks."

Microsoft (:

[Anonymous Coward]

Now how cool is that. A new threat is found for the Mac platform and it's in a Microsoft product of course.
It's an improvement on the previous round, though. Last time it was about malware that required you to actually install it :D

Re:Microsoft (:

[Grishnakh]

Since when was the US Government in the business of doing things for the good of humanity?

Re:LoL

[Architect_sasyr]

I spend my days working as a mac tech, so no, I really do not. I am, however, still highly amused that it happens this way. In much the same fashion as I am amused when wine is used to exploit a linux box.

Re:Sounds like a vulnerability in a Microsoft prod

[otuz]

Apple is actually sandboxing all apps by default in 10.8 "Mountain Lion"

Re:LoL

[omfgnosis]

I still don't understand this attitude, but I can count myself (a Mac user) lucky as a consequence. If I were trying to profit from exploiting home PCs, I would target the Mac first and foremost, as the userbase is substantial (millions), demographically wealthy (compared to the whole market) and typically security-ignorant. That's a perfect storm for exploiting for profit, and I'm frankly astonished it hasn't happened on a large scale yet.