SophosLabs Warns of Imunizator "Trojan Horse" for the Mac

by , 9:40 AM EDT, March 31st, 2008

Computer security company SophosLabs is warning Mac users that it has discovered a trojan horse application for the Mac dubbed "Imunizator." While SophosLabs is calling the application a trojan horse, Imunizator actually falls more into the "scareware" category because it tries to scare users into purchasing security software.

When run, the application always reports that it has found privacy and security problems on the user's Mac and then prompts the user to purchase Imunizator in order to correct the problems.

Just like any other trojan horse application, Imunizator must be installed before it can be run, and in this case, users must also find the application on the Internet and download it. So far, it appears that the application does nothing more than prompt users for payment, which could also potentially lead to identity theft or at least a stolen credit card number.

Imunizator does not appear to pose a direct threat to Mac OS X security, and it does not take advantage of any flaws or exploits in Mac OS X. Instead, it relies on scare tactics to trick users into giving up personal information.

Avoiding potentially hostile applications takes only a little effort: Stay away from Web sites you don't trust, and don't install software from unknown or untrusted sources.