Late Tuesday, Apple finally broke its silence over the continued spread of Flashback, an enduring piece of malware that vendors say has infected 600,000 Macs, or two percent of the user base, in less than a year.
In its support forum Apple said it "is developing" a detection and removal tool:
"A recent version of malicious software called Flashback exploits a security flaw in Java in order to install itself on Macs.
Apple released a Java update on April 3, 2012 that fixes the Java security flaw for systems running OS X v10.7 and Mac OS X v10.6. By default, your Mac automatically checks for software updates every week, but you can change that setting in Software Update preferences. You can also run Software Update at any time to manually check for the latest updates.
Apple is developing software that will detect and remove the Flashback malware.
In addition to the Java vulnerability, the Flashback malware relies on computer servers hosted by the malware authors to perform many of its critical functions. Apple is working with ISPs worldwide to disable this command and control network.
For Macs running Mac OS X v10.5 or earlier, you can better protect yourself from this malware by disabling Java in your web browser(s) preferences."
Flashback.K exploits a vulnerability in Java, a common programming language used in websites, to steal personal information from OS X systems.
Security experts have criticized Apple's slow response to Flashback. Oracle patched the exploited Java vulnerability back in February, but Apple, which retains an iron grip over the release of Java fixes, only released a patch last week. Furthermore until last night, it never mentioned detection or removal tools.
We're now on the eleventh evolution of Flashback. When Intego and F-Secure first reported Flashback.A last September, it was packaged in a fake plug-in for Adobe Flash. Apple took weeks to update XProtect, OS X's built-in anti-malware application, to protect users. By Flashback.C the malware writers had already figured a way to disable XProtect, and hours later Apple updated XProtect to tackle .C.
XProtect was originally released last May as part of Snow Leopard OS X 10.6, in response to weeks of media coverage over another enduring piece of Mac malware called MacDefender.
For more, see Flashback Ends Mac's No-Virus Reputation, Experts Say.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402725,00.asp
Also be sure to check out Flashback Central: How to Find, Protect Against, and Eliminate Scary Apple Malware.