Two security researchers have found a botnet which is populated by Apple Mac owners who are too smug to realise that they are vulnerable.
According to Virus Bulletin the botnet was created by a flaw in the super secure Apple software iWork 2009 trial version. It was an illegal copy which was appearing on the file sharing networks. However since Apple tells users that no one has ever come up with a virus for their super secure software, many Apple users downloaded it.
Since most Apple users don't have virus protection at all, because they think their operating system is somehow safe, the virus spread like wildfire.
Two researchers, Mario Ballano Barcena and Alfredo Pesoli, have now discovered two separate variants of the malware, each using distinct techniques to compromise users' machines.
The botnet is being used to launch denial of service attacks on websites.
What is amusing is that the smug members of the botnet are blissfully unaware that they have a virus, simply because they have a faith that Apple code is secure.
Security experts have been warning for ages that the only reason that Apple code is 'safe' is because virus writers don't bother with obscure operating systems. This is because it is hard to get distribution over a large number of minority operating systems.
However, downloading Apple software from P2P sites is a good method of getting machines infected and then distributing the code to other Apple users.
PCWORLD
