Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Flashback OS X malware estimated to net authors $10K per day

The malware known as "Flashback" that was believed to have infected hundreds of thousands of Macs may have paid out as much as $10,000 a day to its authors.

The estimate comes from the security firm Symantec, which said in a post to its official blog that the primary motivation behind the malware was money. The Flashback Trojan includes an ad-clicking component that will load itself into the three major browsers for Mac — Safari, Firefox and Chrome — and generate revenue for the attackers.

"Flashback specifically targets queries made on Google and, depending on the search query, may redirect users to another page of the attacker's choosing, where they receive revenue from the click," Symantec explained.

Peering into the Trojan's code, the security firm found a redirected URL that generates the authors of the code 8 cents per click. If a user conducts a Google search, Flashback will "hijack" the ad click from Google, taking money away from the search giant and granting "untold sums" to the authors of the Trojan.

A previous analysis of a different Trojan found that a botnet with just 25,000 infections could generate up to $450 per day. At its peak, the Flashback Trojan was estimated to have infected 600,000 Macs worldwide, which means the authors could have earned as much as $10,000 per day.

The presence of Flashback has greatly diminished since Apple released a series of software updates last month aimed at squashing the malware, including a Java update and a separate removal tool.

The Flashback Trojan was first discovered by another security firm, Intego, last September. The software attempts to trick users into installing it by appearing as Adobe's Flash Player installer package.

22 Comments

charlituna 17 Years · 7217 comments

[quote name="Tallest Skil" url="/t/149770/flashback-os-x-malware-estimated-to-net-authors-10k-per-day#post_2103445"]

Is AI being paid to post these ads?

[/quote] Do you mean the Ads running down the side of the page. You can bet they are, more if one is clicked on. That is the same for basically every site which is why they post page hit inducing headlines etc From the article it seems like this Trojan isn't doing squat amiss to the 'host' computer but rather changing the reference codes in the ad links so the money goes to another person. So like if it was an ad here instead of the referral code being Appleinsider it is macrumors. So it seems that my previous question of what's the actual damage done to the computers infected to make the owners need to panic is either answered with nothing or still unanswered. When credit card numbers, bank passwords etc are being grabbed then it's a time to panic

welshdog 23 Years · 1908 comments

Wow who wants to start a Mac malware gang?  I'll buy the beer and someone else can write the trojan.  I couldn't code anything to save my life.

tallest skil 15 Years · 43086 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna 
Do you mean the Ads running down the side of the page.

 

Oh, you know what I mean.

i am a zither zather zuzz 13 Years · 1563 comments

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider 

The malware known as "Flashback" that was believed to have infected hundreds of thousands of Macs may have paid out as much as $10,000 a day to its authors.
 

 

Too bad they didn't make a Windows trojan.  They could have earned $90,000.00 per day.