This week, Bitdefender discovered a new malware targeting Mac systems. Commenting, Lee Munson, security research from Comparitech.com, said:
"A raft of security vendors, including ESET and Bitdefender, have recently become a little excitable over a new piece of Mac malware known as Eleanor.
"When installed, the errant piece of code, which appears to conceal itself in a fake software application called EasyDoc Converter, launches a local web server and then connects to a hidden Tor website. An attacker can then essentially take full control of the machine while remaining safely anonymous.
"But is this really a massive problem that should send OS X (or soon to be Mac OS) users running to the AV hills?
"Not at all in my opinion.
"That’s because Eleanor, and the program surrounding it, unsurprisingly lack the required digital signature that would allow easy and seamless user installation.
"Instead, a potential victim would have to explicitly accept a warning message, telling them the application they were attempting to install was not code signed.
"So, for now at least, antivirus is still not required by Mac users in possession of even an extremely basic knowledge of security.
"That’s not to say that everything is completely rosy in the Apple garden though – ransomware such as KeRanger should definitely act as a wake-up call to anyone suffering from delusions of security through half-bitten fruity obscurity."