OS X Trojan

A new OS X Trojan has been spotted in the wild. The Trojan has been given the identifier “TheOSX/Hovdy-A”, and can perform somewhat advanced attacks against an infected machine. The Trojan takes advantage of a recent escalation exploit within applescript to gain root access to the machine. Once root, the Trojan can manipulate the firewall, steal passwords, and disable security settings. As OS X becomes more popular, we can expect to see more malicious software aimed it. Don’t assume that you’re safe just because you’re on a Mac, follow all of the precautions that your would with any other OS and practice safe surfing!

US-CERT Issues Warning for Excel Trojan

The US-CERT has issued a warning in response to a Trojan actively exploiting MS08-014. First off, MS08-014 is for Microsoft Excel. The patch was released today that fixes critical vulnerabilities in MS Excel. These vulnerabilities could be exploited via a maliciously crafted Excel file to take complete control over a users system. Secondly, the Trojan they speak of is spreading through email with Excel attachments. The two attachment file names that US-CERT is aware of are OLYMPIC.xls and SCHEDULE.xls. These files may also contain Windows executables that can compromise an affected system. Patch now please.