Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is currently working on a tool that can detect and remove the flashback trojan which has come to light recently as a huge risk to users of the company’s operating system. The malware is thought to have infected over 600,000 mac computers worldwide and has been widely reported on in the media. Fixes for the virus have come out before, Apple having pushed a software update last week that was supposed to protect computers from the malicious software. The new tool was revealed in a statement from the company in a support document whose focus was on malicious software and its attacks on the company’s OSX platform.
The java update that the company released last week has been successful in preventing Apple users from being infected but has not done anything to disinfect computers that have already been affected by the virus. The company will be hoping that the recent news will not turn users away from Mac systems though that shouldn’t be a problem as windows systems are much more commonly affected by malware. The flashback trojan first came to light last September but the new remained latent until news surfaced in recent weeks about the extent to which the malware had infected computers around the planet.
The security firm that was responsible for much of the news reaching the public eye revealed that they did not actually have contact information for the security team inside Apple. The company was able to contact Microsoft directly about security issues but because of the relative scarcity of Apple problems the firm had not had much need to be in contact with Apple about their security problems. That may have to change from now on.
The flashback trojan has been the biggest challenge for Mac users with regard to protecting their personal information in recent years. Previous viruses on the software was not as virulent nor as widespread. Apple’s mac computer range was often touted as being immune to viruses an attribute that was probably from the lack of mainstream use of the computers rather than any inherent system design. The increase of popularity of the computers has increased their attractiveness as a target. The flasback trojan may just be the first shot in a coming deluge of malware aimed at mac users. Apple’s support department had better be ready.
