how to detect WireLurker malware

Security researchers have this week been getting themselves het up about a new malware threat to both iOS and OS X. WireLurker appears to be emanating out of Chinese file exchange sites and, at least at the moment, looks fairly limited in both its spread and its damage (update: Business Insider is reporting that Apple has blocked WireLurker-infected apps from launching).

However, researchers at Paolo Alto Networks are pointing out that what makes WireLurker particularly worrying is that the malware exploits weaknesses in Apple’s software that could, they claim, be easily be used for far more dangerous threats.

You can easily scan for the malware threat with my free app FastTasks 2 (v 1.53 or later). If you don’t see the warning as in the screenshot above or any results in the Analyser ‘Issues’ pane, you’re clean of any of the currently known files associated with WireLurker. If you do see the warning, locate the infectious files from the Analyser pane and delete (OS X will demand your Admin password to remove some of them), then restart your mac.

🙂

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