Security firm F-Secure has warned of a new threat to Macs that targets the platform’s built-in defences.
According to the company, the trojan disables the automatic update function of XProtect, meaning future attacks could be easier and removing the malware could prove tricky.
“Recent analysis has revealed to us that Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.C disables the automatic updater component of XProtect, Apple’s built-in OS X anti-malware application,” the company said it a threat report.
F-Secure said the malware first decrypts the paths of XProtectUpdater files, unloads the XProtectUpdater daemon and overwrites the update files, behaviour that mimics tactics previously used on Windows systems.
“Attempting to disable system defences is a very common tactic for malware — and built-in defences are naturally going to be the first target on any computing platform,” the company said.
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