Flashback botnet not shrinking, huge numbers of Macs still infected

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226429/Flashback_botnet_not_shrinking_huge_numbers_of_Macs_still_infected_

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld
April 20, 2012

Contrary to reports by several security companies, the Flashback botnet 
is not shrinking, the Russian antivirus firm that first reported the 
massive infection three weeks ago claimed today.

Dr. Web, which earlier this month was the first to report the 
largest-ever successful malware attack against Apple's OS X, said Friday 
that the pool of Flashback-infected Macs still hovers around the 650,000 
mark, and that infections are continuing.

Also on Friday, Liam O Murchu, manager of operations at Symantec's 
security response center, confirmed that Dr. Web's numbers were correct.

Both Dr. Web's tally and its contention that infections are ongoing flew 
in the face of other antivirus companies' assertions. Kaspersky Lab and 
Symantec, which have each "sinkholed" select domains -- hijacked them 
before the hackers could use them to issue orders to compromised 
machines -- used those domains to count the Macs that try to communicate 
with the malware's command-and-control centers.

[...]


_______________________________________________
LayerOne Security Conference
May 26-27, Clarion Hotel, Anaheim, CA
http://www.layerone.org