An Apple full of worms

Would you bite an apple if you knew there's a worm inside it? You'll probably won't, not if you're that desperate. And that's probably the same answer when those who downloaded pirated copies of iWork '09 and Photoshop CS4 (for Mac) from BitTorrent file sharing networks, received more than what they had been expecting for.

The Austin-based company that specializes in Mac security software Intego, has found a Trojan installer in those pirated copies of iWork '09 called "OSX.Trojan.iServices.A". The Trojan is placed inside a package named "iWorkServices.pkg", which is originally not included in the original iWork '09.

"The installer for the Trojan horse is launched as soon as a user begins the installation of iWork, following the installer's request of an administrator password," Intego said in a warning published Wednesday.

Once the Trojan has been installed, it'll then tells the creators so hackers can "connect to them and perform various actions remotely", including downloading additional components to the machine. Intego said 20,000 people had already downloaded the installer at the time of its alert.

A second 'worm' called "OSX.Trojan.iServices.B" also has already begun showing up in pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop CS4, the security firm said it has been downloaded by 5,000 people and it's harder to safely remove this malware.

Apple has long known to boast about the built-in security of its Mac OS, that provides protection right out of the box for users. Even though Apple still can deflect these kinda worms attack by saying they're coming from pirated copies of softwares, users might have different point of view on seeing this rising threats on their beloved Mac computers. Should Apple start pushing Mac users to adopt 3rd party anti-virus softwares like Windows do?

In another side of the world, Jason D. O'Grady from ZDNet blog has received a copy of iLife '09 in a package that he called it as "shirt box". The package itself (pictured right) is way too big for the iLife '09 original packaging, and it's interesting to read his suggestion for Apple:

"Or even better, distribute the software distributed via BitTorrent and as an incentive, pass the savings along to the consumer (say $10 off) and users download it a couple days before it hits retail shelves." ~LOL~

Now that's what I call as an 'irony'. ;-p

Sources are from:

• Don't Bite That Apple, It's Full of Worms (PC World)
• Two new trojan horses threaten Mac software pirates (AppleInsider)
• The irony of Apple packaging (ZDNet blog)