Beware: iWork '09 from BitTorrent Has Trojan

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Trojan infected pirated copy of iWork 09 for Mac OS X based systems has infected about 20,000 Mac computers worldwide


Intego, Mac-based security and anti-virus software makers, issued a security alert about a Trojan residing in the pirated Apple iWork 09 productivity suite. According to Intego's security alert, this pirated copy must've been downloaded about 20,000 times by now, and must've infected at least that many number of Mac systems.

Along with the pirated iWork 09 suite, an additional package, 'iWorkServices,' gets installed in the system. Once the installation process is complete, a Trojan horse - OSX.Trojan.iServices.A - gets installed as a start-up item and gets root level read-write permission. The Trojan horse then connects to remote servers over the web, but it doesn't carry the virus property of infecting other Mac systems.

The iWorkServices package in infected systems can be found in System/Library/Startup Items. The removal process suggested is re-installation of OS X since getting rid of infected components can be a tedious task.

The pirated copy is moving around on the web through BitTorrent sites. The iWork copies that are bought don't require a serial number, but a trial copy activation of iWork 09 will require a serial number.

Beware of the pirated copies, if you want to avoid infecting your systems.