BitDefender, which claims to develop and market the industry’s most effective line of international certified software, has issued warnings that a particular nasty Trojan is being downloaded by people in the mistaken belief that it is an application which will unlock their iPhone.

iPhone owners are receiving emails that contain a link which leads to a download which claims will open and run a new version of an iPhone unlocking application. And this application, falsely claims the hackers, will undo the vendor instigated network restrictions.

Those unfortunate enough to get taken in and click the link, are sent to a web page which then tells them how to download the malware laden application. And BitDefender has named the Trojan within the application as Trojan.BAT.AACL.

Mihai Andrei Livadaru, a BitDefender virus researcher, said:
“After being urged to connect their iPhone to a PC, the victims are then instructed to download the application and run it on the iPhone. However, once installed the executable file causes a Trojan virus to be infected in the PC.”

The Trojan.BAT.AACL is malware code that arrives as a Windows batch file which sits alongside the unlocking application for the iPhone.

Once the Trojan is downloaded, it begins its insidious work to change the preferred DNS server address on the violated computer. This might involve several possible connections and the server address is changed to 188.210.[REMOVED].

Once this has taken place, the user’s computer is effectively in the hands of the hackers. And once the server address has been changed, it means that the creator of the malware programme can literally monitor the users’ attempts to reach the websites in question, and rather than allowing them to connect, redirect them to other websites. These other websites of course will facilitate the insertion of other malware code, or allow the perpetrator to steal vital bits of information including username and passwords.

So, as always, beware of emails promising gifts – they mostly deliver a whole lot more and none of it fun.

If you receive an email with a nasty Trojan such as the fake iPhone unblocker you do not need to worry if you have your computer sufficiently protected with antivirus software. If your computer does not have an antivirus program installed, then you will continue to experience difficulties and are placing yourself in financial danger. This is because the hackers who have infected your system are trying to get hold of your personal information which could lead them to gaining access to your online banking account.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

McAfee is being kept busy through the global downturn with individuals and companies continuing to see sense and value in protecting their computer systems, and is developing a number of key products for Apple.

McAfee, which is the world’s number two security software company in the world, has also just told investors that business, whilst hard during the start of the year, has actually improved over the last two months.

The McAfee CEO was in an upbeat mood as he revealed that the company had experienced a virtual freeze in January and February 2009, but added that March was better, with April better still and that currently, things had virtually returned to normal spending levels.

And McAfee is also developing products for the design-led computer group Apple. A comprehensive security suite was currently in development for both Mac computers and the iPhone family.

In particular, McAfee believes that as more and more applications become available for the iPhone, from thousands of software developers, so the threat to security will increase dramatically. Avoiding identity theft and data loss will become big worries for the iPhone user. It has been reported that since its launch in July, 2008, over one billion programmes have been downloaded from the Apple App Store.

Although confirming that such an Apple security suite was in development, McAfee didn’t let on when it would be released.

Guest Article by Neil Camp