"iTunes" virus targets iPad owners

[FullMetalMega]

PC-using iPad owners have been targeted with a new virus. Disguised as an iTunes update that offers "better performance, newer features and security", the download is infact a malicious piece of malware designed to scoop up all your sensitive personal information.

According to BitDefender: "Identified by BitDefender as Backdoor.Bifrose.AADY, the piece of malicious code inadvertently downloaded injects itself into the explorer.exe process and opens up a backdoor that allows unauthorised access to and control over the affected system."

"Moreover, Backdoor.Bifrose.AADY attempts to read the keys and serial numbers of the various software installed on the affected computer, while also logging the passwords to the victim's ICQ, Messenger, POP3 mail accounts, and protected storage."

Keep an eye out for the dodgy download in a suspect email link. Mac users are currently unaffected, but both iPad and PC users should remain vigilant.

Source

 

[iFish]

Oh fuck..... then we are in trouble X.X good thing i did not download

 

[Deleted_171835]

PC users only?
I wonder why Mac users are unaffected (cue crappy Apple commercial)

 

[iFish]

PC users only?
I wonder why Mac users are unaffected (cue crappy Apple commercial)

Don't even go there bro

 

[Slyakin]

It's a good thing that I never thought of buying one!

 

[Ritsuki]

iTunes updates are never announced by e-mail :/ Correct me if I'm wrong, but iTunes/apple update program detects automatically if there is an update...

 

[TM2-Megatron]

PC users only?
I wonder why Mac users are unaffected (cue crappy Apple commercial)

Because of the overall success of PCs in the market. Developing a virus that targeted OSX would have far less impact than Windows, due simply to the fact that there are many, many times more PCs out there than Macs. Personally, I wish a few people would go out of their way to afflict Macs, if only to dispel people's delusions that OSX is somehow invulnerable. I'd love to go to an Apple Store just to watch the massive lines form at the Genius Bars as all the hipsters scramble to have their precious designer computers fixed.

 

[Bladexdsl]

PC users only?
I wonder why Mac users are unaffected

cos no one uses them so their not worth infecting

 

[overlord00]

oh, burn Bladexdsl, burn...
well not really. i use a mac. the whole reason its for PC is that most pc users (ie non-gamers and *cough* non pirate-ers *cough*) have no idea what is going on with their pc and only use them for things like word.
now to generalise, both linux and mac users *mostly* know what is happening to their systems (more so linux users), and do not generally download and install software that would be stupid to do so... also, mac and linux require a password to install most things... pc does not...

end

 

[redact]

mac users *mostly* know what is happening to their systems
WUT?

macs are marketed at the same "what doe this button do?" kind of people that windows and ubuntu are aimed at
the only reason macs are so "cool" to young hipsters is because they are thick enough to fall for all the product placement in movies where somebody hacks into the power grid with his mac and makes the city blow up

 

[prowler]

iTunes updates are never announced by e-mail :/ Correct me if I'm wrong, but iTunes/apple update program detects automatically if there is an update...

Yes, that's what it does.
When ever an update is ready to download, it opens Apple Software Update and updates it from there.

 

[chartube12]

PC users only?
I wonder why Mac users are unaffected (cue crappy Apple commercial)

Becasue the virus was created by apple. *cues dramatic beethoven*

 

[UltraMagnus]

I have an anti virus on my mac

 

[jalaneme]

I have an anti virus on my mac

and i have a anti virus on my pc too, besides i turned off updates in itunes as i don't have a newer ipod anway.

 

[Hakoda]

Yes the Mac is most definitely not invulnerable to viruses. It just has less. So much less that compared to Windows, they can advertise saying "We don't get viruses". Compared to Windows, a Mac would be completely safe. Yet by advertising this, more people will buy Macs and then someone will develop a virus for it (if not already) and then someone else will and then someone else will and so on. Then the cycle mimics that of Windows and now Apple can't say they are invulnerable to viruses.

Solution: Have common sense and an anti-virus for any and every system you're on.

Solution for Windows to have less viruses: Remove the registry. Sadly that'd make the system more UNIX-like which means more like Macs. *rants*

 

[UltraMagnus]

unix systems, like macs, are inherently more virus proof, but yes the are virii for macs. I guess they can say macs are virus free the same way they can call diet cola calorie free.

 

[Minox]

What it all comes down to if you ask me is that Windows holds the biggest market. There isn't enough to gain by making this kind of virus for the mac. You'd have to spend loads of time constructing a completely new virus just for it to work on a mac since the same methods wouldn't apply in a completely different operating system, and after that you'd still only be able to infect a lot less users than the Windows market.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong here - Isn't iTunes a part of Mac OS X? If it indeed is then it'd be rather hard to use the same method to get users to install it on Macs because it would already have been installed & updated as a part of the OS.

When it comes to Windows on the other hand it is not included and no matter how you look at it you need to get hold of iTunes from an external source such as the Internet in order to install it on your computer. Meaning that if you get it from a shady source you might get said virus.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

What it all comes down to if you ask me is that Windows holds the biggest market. There isn't enough to gain by making this kind of virus for the mac. You'd have to spend loads of time constructing a completely new virus just for it to work on a mac since the same methods wouldn't apply in a completely different operating system, and after that you'd still only be able to infect a lot less users than the Windows market.

That's the main reason why Mac and Unix based systems are so "virus resistant". More than half, I think almost 3/4ths, of computers use Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. There's no point engineering a virus that only affects a small amount of people when you can hit the biggest group? Not to mention since Windows is so popular, you get more inexperienced people using it, which equates to poor knowledge on preventing and stopping viruses.

But really, iTunes updates automatically, why would you download a "newer version" from your e-mail?

 

[TM2-Megatron]

well not really. i use a mac. the whole reason its for PC is that most pc users (ie non-gamers and *cough* non pirate-ers *cough*) have no idea what is going on with their pc and only use them for things like word.
now to generalise, both linux and mac users *mostly* know what is happening to their systems (more so linux users), and do not generally download and install software that would be stupid to do so... also, mac and linux require a password to install most things... pc does not...

end

Most Mac users know jack squat about the internal workings of their computer, IMO. Apple doesn't want people to have access to anything but the surface level of both hardware and software on their systems, and that's one of the big draws for people who are intimidated by other technology. You need to know at least something about what you're doing to work (properly) on a Windows, Unix, or Linux system.

That's what I like least about Apple, personally. I don't want the damn company choosing what features they want or don't want me to have. I prefer buliding the system myself and deciding everything, rather than taking whatever scraps Apple wants to throw to its desperate, posing, hipster userbase. There are exceptions, but on the whole, the average Mac user is annoying as hell.

 

[Dr.Killa]

the people who bought the iPad deserve it. stop buying apples new products. all of them do the same exact thing as the other. except the newest ipod nano which mysteriously got a camera as opposed to the touch. guess they were out of ideas.

also was that virus one of those automatically detected updates on itunes?