Flashback malware for OS X appears to be going extinct

Just over a year after the Flashback malware began making its appearance on OS X systems, its prevalence has dwindled to the point where, according to ESET, it appears to be going extinct.

In September 2011, Flashback debuted as a fake installer for Adobe's popular Flash plug-in, which was propagated using search-engine optimization to popularize compromised personal blogs and Web sites. While at first the malware did not gain much traction, the criminals behind it began changing their modes of attack, and in in taking advantage of an unpatched Java vulnerability it turned into a widespread drive-by download that at its peak was estimated to have infected about 600,000 Mac systems worldwide.

Following the development of this malware threat, Apple and third-party security companies began releasing methods of detecting and removing Flashback, along with instating preventative measures such as patching Java, implementing auto... [Read more]