‘Yontoo Trojan’ Mac OS X Malware Blocked by Apple in XProtect.plist Update

Apple has recently dropped a XProtect.plist definition update to protect users against a newly discovered Yontoo Trojan, which has had Mac users in a scare of the malware generating an abundance of annoying adware on their system.

Yontoo Trojan was recently discovered by a Russian antivirus and security company just last week. Before and during the discovery, unfortunate Mac users surfing the web took notice to their systems prompting them to download and install a necessary plug-in claimed to be missing to view video trailers. Those who continued to install the so-called plug-in, were hit with the nasty Yontoo Trojan in full force, which inserts ads and other content onto web pages sometimes making it difficult to utilize their computer in a normal fashion.

Yontoo Trojan, so far, has plagued Mac OS X systems in an effort to display preposterous pop-ups and ads within Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome web browser applications. After Apple received word of the peculiar Yontoo Trojan attack, they quickly rolled out an update to the XProtect.plist definitions file. Apple's XProtect is an antimalware system that warns users about threats like Yontoo if they attempt to install the malicious software on their computer.

Through Apple's XProtect, which uses a very specific and potentially location-dependent detection, the antimalware system can primarily catch the surreptitious installations of a malware threat's file(s). Essentially, this will allow XProtect to undermine and virtually put an end to sneaky malware threats that attempt to infect a system through unconventional methods. Passed off as a browser plugin, as Yontoo Trojan and its originating FreeTwitTube installation that it may hide under claim to be, could very well lead to the execution of malicious remote code instructing the system to carry out unwanted actions.

Yontoo Trojan, linked to hackers who look to earn a pay day through the generation of affiliate network ads and traffic, may utilize these drive-by-download techniques to easily victimize computer users. You can think of it as using an older malware-attack technique but on a platform (Macs) that was never attacked as much as Windows-based PCs. Attacking Mac systems with malware like the Yontoo Trojan could be the forefront of a new dawn of malware attacks.

Over the course of the past few years, Apple Mac computers have become a sharper target for cybercrooks. The underlying fact that Macs are becoming popular among computer users is a relevant attribute as to why we have seen a steady incline in the number of Mac malware threats in on the open seas of the Internet.