A new Mac OS X trojan is on the loose and possibly much more deadlier then the recent one. The new discovered trojan named as Backdoor.OS.SabPub.a or SX/Sabpab-A needs no interaction from user end.
On infected Macs, it opens a backdoor and gets instructions from it’s remote controllers for performing further actions. What is scary is that it has the ability to take screenshots of user activities, transfer files, and run commands from remote source on the infected Macs for malicious purposes. Logs of all these activities are relayed back to the remote controller and they are encrypted.
The good news is that this new trojan is not very widespread as compared to Flashback and is mostly used on specific machines. Java exploits used are hidden and made to blend in so that they can’t be scanned by anti-malware running on Macs.
Also, this trojan will be useless if the newest patch (one released for Flashback) is applied to Macs or Java is disabled completely.
While Windows is already battle hardened in terms of security updates and exploits that keep on coming, Macs are just getting to know how any system that is gaining widespread use will be attacked regardless of how secure they are supposed to be. 🙂