600,000 Apple Computers Affected by New Virus

It has often been said that Apple computers weren’t susceptible to a virus. In fact, that was one of the shining gems that they were known for. Well, perhaps it’s time to think again. It was just reported that more than 600,000 Macs are, in fact, infected with a virus known as the Flashback Trojan. According to bgr.com, Russian anti-virus vendor Dr. Web has discovered that a vicious malware known as “BackDoor.Flashback,39” is currently present on at least 600,000 Mac computers.

This is a problem.

Information found on Mashable states that most of the infected computers are in the United States and Canada. Originally discovered back in September of last year, Flashback was designed to disguise itself as an Adobe Flash Player installer. After installing it, the virus then seeks out user names and passwords that may be stored in a Mac. If you’re with a Mac and worried about this new threat, don’t fear just yet. USA Today has reported that Apple has launched a key security update which essentially patches a hole in Java that was left exposed to viruses and such.

While individuals working at Apple may be surprised that a virus has managed to penetrate their seemingly perfect firewall, Dave Marcus, director of advanced research and threat intelligence at McAfee Labs isn’t surprised at all. In fact, he said that cyber criminals do not discriminate.

“Attackers are leveraging years of success from writing PC malware and they’re doing the same thing in the Mac world,” Marcus said. “Cyber criminals will attack any operating system with valuable information, and as the popularity of Macs increase, so will attacks on the Mac platform.”

The likelihood of  a Mac getting affected by a virus is relatively slim when compared to Microsoft Windows. In fact, one of Apple’s newer releases — its esteemed Mac OS X 10.6 — is being positioned as a safer alternative to Windows. Still, perchance consumers should think twice.

After all, who wants to buy an Apple if it’s rotten?

What do you think of  Apple’s new problem concerning this virus? Do you prefer PC computers or Mac computers? Let us know by sharing your comments in the box below, or by sounding off on our Facebook Page or Google+ Page, or by tweeting us at @HostDime.