Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
A recent variant of RSPlug does not have this functionality hard-coded. Instead, it is a downloader that collects and installs files that do the dirty work. It seems likely that its creator is planning to deliver different or additional threats through this mechanism.
A variation on the same theme may pose as a key generator called MacAccess.
So, should Mac users be running antivirus software? I've been doing so for years, but you must make up your own mind.
Just be aware that some security experts hold that it's mainly the relatively small size of the Mac installed base that makes Windows a more attractive target for malware writers, and that there are vulnerabilities in Mac OS X waiting to be exploited.
According to Gartner, Apple's US market share has reached 9.5 percent, making it the number three vendor in that country. (Internationally, it's still lumped in with Others, which means it has less than 4.6 percent.) And NPD says Apple too 20.1 percent of the US retail market.
If those experts are right, how many more Macs need to be sold to make them a financially worthwhile target? The evolution of RSPlug suggests someone's making money from a relatively small subset of Mac users.
If it's worth their while, why wouldn't others step in?
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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