Seems like we ain’t safe anymore.

bq. A recent version of malicious software called Flashback exploits a security flaw in Java in order to install itself on Macs.

Apple released a “support article”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5244?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US updating on what they plan to do to counter the threat of this new malware.

To know more about this malware and what you can do to prevent it, do go through this “article”:http://www.macworld.com/article/1166254/what_you_need_to_know_about_the_flashback_trojan.html posted at Macworld.

bq. Flashback is the first widespread drive-by malware to attack Macs. This is one of the most pernicious attack techniques, which has long troubled Windows users, and it does represent a major advance…Because it can infect a vulnerable computer without user interaction, Flashback is far more serious. As we’ve seen in the Windows world, this is an extremely effective technique.

To find out whether you’re one of the unlucky ones to be infected, read the steps at “F-Secure”:http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan-downloader_osx_flashback_i.shtml on what you can do to detect and remove it. They also created a “free too”:http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002346.html to help detect and remove it if you are not familiar with the Terminal.app.

One of the way of preventing future attacks by such Malware is to Disable the use of Java on Safari and other browser. However, as our Government’s e-Services rely heavily on the use of SingPass to login, which uses Java, to disable it will be a pain if you have to use their services.

That said, one of the best advice to prevent such things is to constantly update your OS. Apple puts up “Security Updates”:http://support.apple.com/downloads/ to patch up any vulnerabilities in the OS frequently.

As iOS devices and Macs gets more popular, the good ol’ days where we laugh at our friends who are on the Windows platform about how vulnerable their systems are, are over. But if you follow some common good practices like updating your OS, not visiting questionable sites and downloading and running apps from non-trustworthy sites, you can be assure of a clean bill of health for your Macs.