The platform has exploded though with Macs being the weapon of choice for all the hipsters and yuppies out there, we wrote about Apple Struggling With Security & Malware back in 2009.

In 2010 we saw Sophos Launch a FREE Anti-Virus Software For Mac and in 2011 we saw a JAVA based cross platform trojan that also effected Mac machines.

Apple — and many Mac users — argue that Mac OS X has a special recipe for security that makes it less likely to be infected with malware. Many security researchers counter that the Mac’s seeming immunity stems not from its security, but from its lack of market share.

The debate may finally be settled. The emergence of a serious malware construction kit for the Mac OS X seems to mimic a 2008 prediction by a security researcher. The prediction comes from a paper written in IEEE Security & Privacy, which used game theory to predict that Macs would become a focus for attackers as soon as Apple hit 16 percent market share.

Last week, security researchers pointed to a construction kit for creating Trojans for the Mac OS X as a major issue for Mac users. Currently, three countries — Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States — have Mac market share around that level.

“The kit is being sold under the name Weyland-Yutani Bot and it is the first of its kind to hit the Mac OS platform,” Peter Kruse, partner and security specialist at security firm CSIS, writes in a blog post. “CSIS finds this crimekit to be quite disturbing news since Mac OS previously to some degree has been spared from the increasing amount of malware which has haunted Windows-based systems for years.”

The prediction in the paper was that Mac would start being targeted when they reached a 16% market share, which has happened recently in 3 countries. There is not a trojan creation kit targeting Mac OSX – this makes threats on the platform a reality.

The original paper can be found here – j3attAO.pdf

The fact is that Mac users probably still don’t run anti-virus software because they don’t believe they need to, these threats could spread fast.

Weyland-Yutani Bot, named for the corporation in the 1979 movie Alien, is currently being sold by its developers. While it is not the first attack on the Mac OS X, crimeware has enabled criminals in the past to scale up attacks quickly.

“What is happening is that people are testing the waters,” says Adam O’Donnell, chief architect of the cloud technology group at SourceFire and the author of the 2008 paper. “It just becomes economically viable to do it, so you start seeing these attacks becoming more common.”

The 2008 paper used game theory to calculate when attackers would start seeing a payoff in focusing on the Mac OS X over Windows. It simplified the problem by assuming that all PC users ran antivirus software and that no Mac users did. The assumptions helped reduce the problem down to two factors: the effectiveness of the defenses and the marketshare of the dominant platform.

With detection rates for antivirus in the 80 percent range, the Mac OS X becomes an attractive target around 16 percent marketshare. If PC defenses are better than 80 percent, then the Mac market share at which attackers become interested drops. For example, if antivirus programs detect attack 90 percent of the time, then attackers will focus on the Mac OS X at approximately 6 percent marketshare, says O’Donnell.

“It is much more of an argument that at the low rates of penetration of the Mac in the market is why there is no malware,” he says. “You get a few points up, and like we are seeing now, you will start seeing malware.”

But even still, with AV software installed doesn’t make your computer the bastion of security. AV software still works on a reactive basis, there still is no real proactive security. AV heuristics are crap, they don’t detect anything.

Signatures still need to be updated and pushed out, and can be avoided. Especially by morphing software, the new generations of trojan and bot software are much more advanced than any AV system.

Source: Network World

It’s inevitable as Apple products become more and more popular they will get targeted by the bad guys. Count on more viruses, malware, exploits and rootkits for Apple Operating Systems.

They are a bit behind in the curve as they don’t have a formal security program and it’s unknown if they use secure development practices (they seem to focus more on interface design than anything else).

Something has to be done though or the next big botnet could be running on Apple machines.

A well-known security consultant says Apple is struggling to effectively protect its users against malware and other online threats and suggests executives improve by adopting a secure development lifecycle to design its growing roster of products.

“Based on a variety of sources, we know that Apple does not have a formal security program, and as such fails to catch vulnerabilities that would otherwise be prevented before product releases,” writes Rich Mogull, founder of security firm Securosis and a self-described owner of seven Macs. “To address this lack, Apple should integrate secure software development into all internal development efforts.”

Microsoft was among the first companies to integrate an SDL into its internal development routine. Under the program, products are built from the ground up with security in mind, so that poorly written sections of older code are replaced with code that can better withstand attack. It also subjects programs to a variety of simulated attacks. Adobe Systems recently beefed up the SDL program for Reader and Acrobat following criticism about the security of those two programs.

With their fairly rapid development and pumping out of new product lines (Apple TV, Mac Mini etc) they are going to face security problems at some point.

That’s without considering the Internet connected mobile devices (iPhone, iPod touch).

Adobe has taken notice too with it’s recent spate of exploits and improved its Secure Development Lifecycle to ensure future problems are minimized.

Mogull’s suggestion was one of five he made recently to ensure company is doing everything it should to safeguard its customers.

“It’s clear that that Apple considers security important, but that the company also struggles to execute effectively when faced with security challenges,” he writes in a recent article on Mac news website Tidbits. He goes on to fault the company for its ongoing failure to patch a gaping security hole in Mac versions of Java.

The suggestions came as Apple on Monday announced Safari 4.0, a release that fixes more than 50 vulnerabilities in the browser. Protection against clickjacking attacks, denial-of-service flaws and bugs that allow for remote code execution were among the fare.

Another suggestion from Mogull is that Apple appoint and empower a high-ranking executive to oversee security in all Apple products. The CSO, or chief security officer, would serve as the public face for Apple security as well as the internal boss who coordinates the company’s response to security incidents and development of new products that are safe.

I believe Apple is indeed need of a solid CSO, one that can implement more proactive measures against security flaws such as secure development, a dedicated response and research team for vulnerabilities and spearhead a generally more responsible organisation when it comes to security concerns.

Obviously to fit into Apple it has to be someone charismatic that can ‘sell’ the benefits of Apples ‘iSecurity’ system or whatever they are gonna call it.

I’m sure they’ll find some way to spin whatever security measures they take into a marketing exercise.

Source: The Register