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Lame Mac Trojan limps into view

Malware targets grumble-flick fans

Updated Security researchers have uncovered a rare example of a Trojan that affects Mac PCs.

Lamzev-A creates a backdoor on compromised Mac OS-X systems. The malware typically disguises itself as video codec or game on dodgy websites. Mac users hoping to watch a clip from a grumble flick get infected instead, a trick well known from the world of Windows malware.

Few have fallen for the bait. The malware is notable as a rare example of a malicious agent capable of infecting Apple systems rather than any threat that it poses, which is minimal. Previous examples of malware able infect Mac systems have included an Apple-variant of a scareware (fake anti-spyware) package and a Trojan, DNsChan-A, served up from malicious websites that used scripts to detect whether a Windows or Mac system was the target for infection before running the appropriate infection routine.

More details on the latest (minor) Mac OS-X security flap can be found in blog postings by Trend Micro here. other vendors, such as Intego, claim that they have known about the "hacker tool since at least August but decided not to issue an alert about it because it was so linp and useless. ®

Update

Lamzev-A is not a variant of the the RSPlug Mac Trojan as incorrectly stated in the first version of this story. Alerts about a variant of this other strain of Mac malware, described in detail by Intego here, were published at the same time at the Lamzev-A alert creating the confusion.

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