Phishers Prep Apple Attack?

[Michael Essany]

An article on 9to5mac yesterday has a lot of people talking today, as the prospect of a new Mac attack from phishers allegedly looms on the horizon. Although Macs have a mostly pristine imagine for being resistant to virus attacks, phishers are slowly and steadily taking aim at Apple products.

We received word this morning of what could be a brand new phishing attack that’s in circulation at present - an email which purports to relate to a recent Apple retail transaction and asks for details of any recent orders. The email (image above) also carries a stuffed file. This contains an ‘exe’ file which will only launch on a Windows machine, as with all such phishing trips, be advised not to click on any attachments from sources you don’t know/trust.

I can personally confirm from my own sources that there is, in fact, an email in circulation that, like reported, reads: “We recorded a payment request from ‘Apple Inc.’ to enable the charge of $7,548.45 on your account.” As you can imagine, those who click on the attachment to "stop the transaction" open up a world of hurt for their OS.

This news, while unfortunate, serves as a healthy reminder for us all that Macs and iPhones are not impervious to phishing and the harsh consequences that result from its successful inroads. According to the same report from 9to5mac, a survey of 1,003 people commissioned by security firm ESET "found that most cybercrime losses are caused by phishing attacks, and users are equally at risk to these attempts, whatever the OS."

This story is the second major security threat reported this week that affects Mac or iPhone users. On Tuesday, it was determined by "experts" that sensitive personal information (names, passwords, etc) can be harvested from an iPhone via WiFi connection. As a result, iPhone users are being warned to avoid accessing password-protected sites on a public WiFi network. Seems like common sense, but this "bad news" is yet another telling reminder to help keep our guard up.

Smartphones are vulnerable to the same Web-based and e-mail attacks that have long hammered PCs. One in five smartphone owners has already encountered what's known as a phishing scam, where hackers pose as a bank or some other trusted institution in an attempt to collect personal user information, according to a survey of 1,016 U.S.smartphone users conducted by virus-scan vendor Trend Micro in May.

Image via 9to5Mac

[badass1469]

what the fizzle

[hitman10]

why am i never surprised anymore?

[CaptainChaos]

So what good does this do if the phishing file can only be run on a Windows box? Or is this aimed towards those that dual boot/virtually run Windows on a Mac?

[bbillh77]

if it aint one thing its another

[waroftyr]

i still say attachments were one of the worst things to happen to email

[mikerlx]

I never open any email with attachments. I just delete all emails that I don't recognize.

[hancoma]

I never open any email with attachments. I just delete all emails that I don't recognize.

True true. Really the one I hate is the pop up that says your system is infected and downloads an exe.

[rwin84]

The reason that Macs have been so relatively virus free for so long is because so few people used them. Now that their popularity is sky-rocketing so will the malicious POS people wanting to F with your machine or steal from you...

[Melech518]

The virus is still a Windows attack lol. Nice try.

[VBLUE42]

Yea why do we need to be concerned if we are Mac users? Am I missing an important detail here when it states that it will only launch on a Windows platform?

[IUiPodRepair]

The virus is still a Windows attack lol. Nice try.

I don't see anywhere in the article that states it is a Windows attack, on the contrary, given the context, it would seem this is targeted at Macs.

Regardless of whatever operating system you are on you are susceptible to a virus if you run files.

[CaptainChaos]

^because the file is a .exe
open it up while using Windows on your mac and post the results

[brademcee]

I personally received the same message but instead of claiming it was an Apple charge, the message claimed it was a charge to Subway.

I agree. Other than the email claiming that it was a Apple product, this has nothing to do with a MAC virus. It was an EXE file and thus, not a file that would run on my MAC.

[Melech518]

I don't see anywhere in the article that states it is a Windows attack, on the contrary, given the context, it would seem this is targeted at Macs.

Regardless of whatever operating system you are on you are susceptible to a virus if you run files.

Because you skipped over that part of the article. Look again. And also, an .exe file is a windows file

The email (image above) also carries a stuffed file. This contains an ‘exe’ file which will only launch on a Windows machine, as with all such phishing trips, be advised not to click on any attachments from sources you don’t know/trust.

Source:http://www.informationweek.com/blog/...OSKHWATMY32JVN

[dq13]

We all know (and its been said plenty of times) that Mac don't get virus because nobody makes them, not because they are virus proof!!

[KartRacer]

Awesome. Trying to pass off a Windows virus as a Mac virus. Really trying to get page hits or something?

[StealthBravo]

lame

[rhekt]

The reason that Macs have been so relatively virus free for so long is because so few people used them. Now that their popularity is sky-rocketing so will the malicious POS people wanting to F with your machine or steal from you...

true true buckaroo....

i yearn for the old days...allways like to be the leader. just never liked to be followed.

[rhekt]

this can never be good