More than 56 percent of the infected computers are in the U.S., almost 20 percent in Canada, and almost 13 percent in the U.K. Other European countries, as well as Japan and Australia, reportedly have infection rates of below 1 percent.
“Systems get infected after a user is redirected to a bogus site from a compromised resource or via a traffic distribution system,” the Russian antivirus vendor said. “JavaScript code is used to load a Java-applet containing an exploit. Dr. Web’s virus analysts discovered a large number of websites containing the code.”
The infected websites listed by the company are mainly in the .nu domain (assigned to the island state of Niue), ranging from URLs related to movies and TV streaming services to a domain called Gangstasparadise.
How the Vulnerability Works
How to Find Out if You’re Infected
If you suspect your Mac could be infected, F-Secure has a set of instructions to find out via the Terminal. The firm also explained how the trojan works, so keep an eye out for when you are asked for the admin password: “On execution, the malware will prompt the unsuspecting user for the administrator password. Whether or not the user inputs the administrator password, the malware will attempt to infect the system, though entering the password will affect how the infection is done.”
Mac Infection Rate Debated
“However, given that the company reporting these numbers is in the business of selling antivirus software, I think we need to see their claims corroborated before we get too excited,” he added. Mikko Hypponen from F-Secure commented on Twitter on Dr. Web’s findings, saying: “We can’t confirm or deny the figure.”
