#Mac os timeline current mac os x

Troj/RKOSX-A was discovered – a Mac OS X tool to assist hackers create backdoor Trojans, which can give them access and control over your Apple Mac computer. In June, the OSX/Hovdy-A Trojan horse was discovered that could steal passwords from Mac OS X users, open the firewall to give access to hackers, and disable security settings. If accessed via an Apple Mac, surfers would be attacked by a piece of Macintosh scareware called MacSweeper.Ĭlose relatives of MacSweeper followed shortly afterwards, including Imunizator – another example of scareware for the Apple Mac, which claimed to find privacy issues on the user’s precious computer.

#Mac os timeline current software

You could measure how good your anti-virus software was by how quickly and seriously it responded to the macro virus threat.Ĭybercriminals targeted Mac and PC users in equal measure, by planting poisoned adverts on TV-related websites. DOC file could infect your computer, because the macro virus’s code was embedded within. Macro viruses were written in the easy-to-understand macro language that Microsoft included in its Office programs making it child’s play to create new variants.įurthermore, most people at the time considered documents to be non-dangerous, and were happy to receive them without thinking of the possible security implications. Word macro viruses turned the world of Mac *and* Windows malware on its head overnight. It infected both Macs and PCs running Microsoft Word.Ĭoncept was not written with malicious intent (aside from spreading, it just displayed a message box containing the number “1”) but thousands of macro viruses were to follow, many also affecting Microsoft Office for Mac. Microsoft accidentally shipped the first ever Word macro virus, Concept, on CD ROM. 2011 – MacDefender scareware and SEO poisoning.2010 – Backdoors, cross-platform attacks and free anti-virus.2009 – Malware in pirated software torrents, sex videos and a rudimentary virus protection from Apple.2007 – OpenOffice BadBunny and RSPlug financial malware.

#Mac os timeline current for mac os x

2006 – Leap, the first virus for Mac OS X.

Hopefully this short history will go some way to present the facts, and encourage sensible debate.įrom the early 1980s, right up until the present day, here are some of the highlights in the history of Apple Mac malware. There are some who believe that the problem is overhyped (or even non-existent!) and others who believe that the malware problem on Macs is underestimated by the Apple-loving community. Since then there have been some significant developments, so here’s a revised and updated version.īefore we begin, it’s worth recognising that malware on the Mac is a subject which raises strong emotions. In late 2010, I wrote a short history of Apple Mac malware.