Apple released an update today for its built-in, malware protection platform, XProtect, in response to the emergence of Mac-targeting trojan that hijacks Google searches, according to an article posted on Softpedia.
Once the trojan has installed itself on a user’s machine, it starts adding fake entries to the hosts file, which then hijacks Google’s DNS. The user is then redirected to a fake Google search page that is hosted on servers controlled by the scammers. According to the report, overriding DNS responses is a relatively simple process that involves editing the hosts file.
The trojan was first discovered in early August by researchers at Finish security firm F-Secure.
Experts have been prophesying the widespread emergence of Mac-based malware for years, and while we’ve seen some reports of Mac exploit kits, scareware, backdoors and battery bricking issues this summer, as of now, despite reports like these, malware authors continue to target users of the Windows and Android operating systems fare more aggressively.
