Kaspersky: Eighteen Macs Infected With Wirelurker

The Wirelurker malware that runs on Mac computers and can also infect iOS devices has been found on only 18 computers so far, according to Kaspersky. A large part of this is located in China, the Russian antivirus company claims.

Kaspersky relies on users of its anti-virus software, who provided the data voluntarily, and thus only gives an estimate. The data shows that most of the infections occurred in China. This concerns eleven cases. The rest were in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States.

Wirelurker spreads through infected apps in the Maiyadi application store for OS X, which is mainly targeted at Chinese people. According to the researchers, 467 applications were infected, which together would have been downloaded 350,000 times. Hundreds of thousands of users may have been affected, but Kaspersky’s figures nuance that number slightly.

Once a Mac is infected with the malware, it then tries to infect USB-connected iOS devices. They can also be infected if they are not jailbroken. It is known to be the first virus to infect non-jailbraiked devices in this way.

In addition to Mac, there is also a Windows variant, which also focuses on iOS devices. The researchers found the Windows version on a server of Baidu’s web storage in China. Under Windows, the trojan first asks the user to install iTunes. The trojan then displays that it is waiting for an iPhone or iPad to be connected.

According to Kaspersky, Mac users can best defend themselves against the malware by refusing installations outside the App Store. This can be specified in the application store settings. Wirelurker is a wake-up call for how Mac users should think about security, Kaspersky said.