Current Mac Malware, 2011-07: Introduction

In order to help Mac users understand the current state of malware on the platform, I am providing a review  of each current form. This will not be an exhaustive review, but should help relieve much misunderstanding and concern about the ongoing, many years old, anti-Apple security FUD Fest.

I will be going through the malware in reverse chronological order, featuring the most current concerns first and the oldies but gnarlies last.

The first thing to know is that technically, ALL currently active Mac malware are Trojan horses. That means that they are entirely inert until such time as a user (or 'LUSER', in cynical terminology) inadvertently installs them.

I am NOT including any hacker tools or 'legal' spyware in my details articles. These require a third party to be able to physically access your computer and directly install them for their nefarious purposes. You won't personally be in any danger of installing them unless a hacker or IT administrator directs you to do so. They require hackers or administrators to access your computer in order for them to do any harm. I may address these forms of software at another time. I am more concerned about what YOU might mistakenly install.

THE LIST:

1) Trojan.OSX.MACDefender.A - O [15 strains]

2) Trojan.OSX.BlackHoleRAT.A - C [3 strains]

3) Trojan.OSX.Boonana.A

4) Trojan.OSX.OpinionSpy.A - B [2 strains]

5) Trojan.OSX.iServices.A - C [3 strains]

6) Trojan.OSX.PokerStealer.A

7) Trojan.OSX.RSPlug.A - Q [17 strains]

The total number of Mac malware species are 7.
The total number of Mac malware strains are 42.


The 'Malware' Hacker Tools I Am Leaving Out:

'Trojan'.OSX.Lamzev.A

'Trojan'.OSX.Hellraiser.A - D [4 strains]

There are a number of inert malware as well as 'Proof of Concept' malware of no concern which I have also left out of my list. You may find them on other lists but you won't find them infecting anyone with up-to-date computers, apart for test computers in a lab. (A famous example of 'Proof of Concept' malware is Trojan.OSX.Oomp.A, aka Trojan.OSX.Leap.A. It is of no consequence or importance).

If you'd like a list of current 'legal' spyware, I suggest the list kindly provided at the MacScan/SecureMac site.

Note that, due to the lack of adherence to standards within the anti-malware community, there are a lot of name variations for the exact same malware. In the case of the MAC Defender Trojan I discovered 15 different names. I am not including them here in my list as these alternative names are irrelevant and needlessly confusing. What I have listed here are the 'official' names from my point of view as well as those whom I consider to be professional experts and original malware discoverers in the field. However, I will be listing a number of the alternative names in my subsequent articles that provide details about each of the current malware species.

As ever, I request corrections to my information. If I have missed a malware species or strain, please let me know asap. Much appreciated!

HellRTS,The Not Quite In-The-WildHacker Tool "Trojan"

"Take a deep breath and count to ten. One, two, three..."

This past couple weeks the incoherent, or should I say incompetent, nature of the anti-malware community has become evident yet-again through the discovery and discussion about a new variation of a hacker tool called 'OSX.HellRTS.D'. I am going to use that name because my best estimation is that it was first described by Intego, and that is their chosen name. It also follows the published malware naming protocol.

As per usual, other anti-malware companies could not bother to stick to the source name and have proliferated the usual WHATEVER of their own names, those being 'Hellraiser' and 'Pinhead'. Further confusion includes the addition of '.D' at the end of Intego's name. I have no idea why it is there. It indicates that this is supposed to be the FOURTH variant of this 'malware', and yet no one, including Intego of course, provides any reference to variants ".A", ".B" or ".C". I am going to toss out a wild guess that ".D" only means that this hacker tool has three previous versions known well only within the hacker community.

UPDATE: I have verified that 'Hellraiser' is the actual name of the source hacker tool of which HellRTS.D is the fourth variation.

Why I'm counting to ten: Because there are no signs of improvement in the chaotic nature of the anti-malware community. Anti-malware is supposed to be a 'professional' endeavor. The only reliably professional thing I have found so far in the community is that people make money in it. Otherwise, as a trained and experienced scientist, I find the community to be nothing more than 'A Pack Of Cards', as Lewis Carroll put it. That is to say it is a bunch of playing card characters disagreeing with one another over nonsense.

Which is to say quite bluntly:

The anti-malware community is not entirely scientific in nature.

(I am so itching to have someone disagree with my statement above. I dare you.)

Of course, enough of my own injection of subjective emotion into what should be an objective, scientific subject. Here's the lowdown on this new 'Trojan':

So far OSX.HellRTS is entirely ignorable. It is being distributed as a hacker tool out on the Internet, but has NOT been utilized as malware 'in-the-wild'. Instead it is being described as capable of being used as malware in-the-wild. When or if OSX.HellRTS becomes anything more than a hacker tool, I'll provide more detailed information.

In the meantime, here are some links for those who would like to dig around in the details:

David Harley has written a series of articles about HellRTS at his poorly named "Mac Virus" blog. David provides some very useful information through his professional work for the Mac community, which I very much appreciate. However, David also often makes his own contributions to the chaotic nature of the anti-malware community, fitting my fittingly harsh appraisal. Therefore, when you read his articles, "Take a deep breath and count to ten...."

Hellish Mac Malware

More on that hellish Mac malware...

OSX/HellRTS - more info

Here are Intego's source articles about OSX.HellRTS:

INTEGO SECURITY MEMO – April 16, 2010
HellRTS Backdoor Can Allow Malicious Remote Users to Control Macs

Intego Security Memo: HellRTS Backdoor Can Allow Malicious Remote Users to Control Macs

Now for the firing squad:

These are reports from other anti-malware companies that chose to use their own WHATEVER name for OSX.HellRTS. They should be lined up against a wall. As you click each of the links below, think to yourself:

"BOOM! HEADSHOT!"

Sophos: "OSX/Pinhead-B"

CA: "OSX/HellRTS"

iAntiVirus (PC Tools): "Backdoor.OSX.Hellraiser" <- Search on this page for 'Hellraiser' to read its description.

As usual I'm not going to bother with references to Symantec or MacScan articles. Why? Why bother.

If there are hackers who'd like to share the history of the Hellraiser hacking tool, please let us know via the comments! I'd be most interested.