True story

Macintosh Apple computers are not immune to malicious software.

Year: 2009

Background: Using an erotic video starring an actress from a popular American series to entice people, a Trojan horse infected computers with Mac OS X operating systems. The bait was offered on the new Twitter by Guy Kawasaki, an Apple system guru, who had nearly 140,000 followers at the time.

Consequences: The ultimate objective of this Trojan horse was to install other malicious software. However, it had one particularity: it infected Macintosh operating systems, which often lack security software, since a great number of Macintosh users believe they do not need security software. This belief must now be reconsidered.

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Trojan horse

A Trojan horse is a harmless-looking but dangerous, malicious software. It may allow fraudsters to break into an infected computer and take control of it, without the user's knowledge.

Caution

A Trojan horse may:

  • Allow a fraudster to take your personal information
  • Allow a fraudster to tamper with your computer (delete files, tamper with the system, etc.)
  • Trigger the installation of other malicious software
  • Connect your computer to a botnet in order to commit a malicious act

How can you protect yourself?

  • Use antivirus software, a spyware blocker and a firewall
  • Make sure you regularly update your antivirus software, spyware blocker, operating system, browser and email client
  • Do not download software (or files) from questionable sources, illegal websites, or from other unreliable sources
  • Do not open emails that contain attachments from unknown or questionable sources
  • Do not open non-essential attachments, such as videos, photographs and supposedly entertaining presentations, even if they come from known sources
  • Make a backup copy of your work files and system configuration
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