New Mac Trojan Virus ‘Sabpad” Emerges Following ‘Flashback’ Fix

Apple has always touted its operating system as more secure than Microsoft Windows, a claim security analysts have scoffed at, claiming over the years that Apple’s product simply wasn’t targeted as much because it wasn’t used as much. Now with the emergence of more Apple sales the company is being hit by its second virus in one week.

Know as the “Sabpab” trojan the malware was discovered by security firm Sophos. Much like the “Flashback” trojan virus this new piece of malware exposes a weakness in Java that allows an infected Word document to take over a users computer and steal personal information while sending remote commands to computers.

Users are warned not to open emails they don’t recognize, especially if they claim to come with a letter from Tibet’s Dalai Lama.

You may recall that the Flashback virus infected more than 600,000 Macs before it was discovered and a patch was released by Apple.

Sophos security expert Greg Cluley writes:

“Although there’s no reason to believe that this attack is widespread, it’s clearly time for some people to wake up to the reality of Mac malware.”

Cluley continues:

“Mac users—please get an anti-virus, for goodness sake.”

Greg’s plea isn’t just that of fear mongering, once a systems vulnerabilities begin to show hackers will often try to one-up each other, finding new and inventive ways to hack a system, while some of those hacks are not meant for nefarious reasons many are and with a system that has never before required a virus program it is the perfect opportunity for hackers to go after users based on their false sense of security.