subject: Flashback Trojan Takes Apple Computers Under The Veil Of Threat [print this page] Once again the computer world has slipped into the clutches of online threats that are keeping everyone on toes. Most recently, more than 600,000 Mac users have been infected with the new Trojan horse called BackDoor.Flashback.39. It has raised the eyebrows of security experts all over the globe and many have come with their comments and opinion on this latest inclusion to the list of viruses.
Worlds leading security experts and analysts have favored the notion that the threat to Mac users remain always higher than others because Mac users bear the impression that their Apple system has been designed to counter all such threats and thus take their eyes off from security measures and protection of their computers. But now as Forrester analysts David Johnson has stated that Mac users should also understand that Apple computers are not entirely immune from such threats.
This Flashback virus was first noticed in 2011 and was labeled by security experts as a classic Trojan. It infected the user when Adobe Flash was executed in order to update the software. Its recurrence in March 2012 approves its existence as a continuing threat for Mac computer users. However, this time Flashback was classified as less of a Trojan and more of a drive-by online threat. Flashback Trojan infects the vulnerable computers when the user visits any malicious website.
This virus has mostly affected computers in North America. The United States shares more than half of the infected computers whereas Canada has around 20 percent of them. This security breach of Mac computers have plundered the reputation of Apple computers that they do not require antivirus virus software. With this fiasco it has been established that Apple computers also need security from viruses and malware.
As discussed earlier Mac users contracted the Trojan infection while they download as an update to Adobe Flash video viewing software. The threat was disguised in the Adobe Flash video update. It was first noticed by a Finnish computer security company. So far this Trojan has already infected around half-million Mac computers globally.
One constructive outcome of this Trojan attack on Mac computers is the ignition of the debate about whether an Apple computer requires defense against virus attacks or not. Analysts are putting forth their views and suggesting with their researched opinion about making Apple computer more secure.
In the meantime Apple has released a patch for this Trojan infection and assured users about the security of Apple computers.
