Apple product owners have long taken pride in the fact that
their devices are free from viruses and malware. However, this may soon all
change as a recent research done by Palo Alto Networks indicate that a new form
of malware called “Wirelurker” have been found to be capable of attacking Mac
OS and iOS systems.
According to the report, the malware is capable of
automatically generating malicious iOS applications through binary file
replacement and is the first known malware that can infect even non-jailbroken
devices.
The malware was first observed 6 months ago and is believed
to be contracted through third-party Mac and IOS application stores from China
and has so far infected 467 applications that were downloaded over 300,000
times.
Wirelurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an
infected Mac computer and installs downloaded third-party apps or automatically
generates applications into the device. But other than installing apps into the
device, Wirelurker is also capable of stealing information stored on devices
including financial data.
The Palo Alto Networks team says the malware is still under
active development and recommends iOS and Mac users to observe certain actions
in order to avoid infection. These include employing an antivirus of security
protection on their Mac OS X system, avoiding apps from third-party sources and
avoiding connecting their device with untrusted or unknown sources.
