Partnerka: Get Paid for Infecting Macs

Reading the blogs from Sophos, I came upon a gem, Earn 43 cents every time you infect a Mac. What is even more spectacular about this is the fact that I just read (maybe a week or two ago) a news article that asks do Mac users really need to have anti-virus software?

When I first read it I was flabbergasted (the article not the blog). That sort of question is like asking, your car – does it really need seat belts? For the most part when you drive you will not be in a life and death situation. Seatbelts are used in case an accident occurs not because accidents happen 20-30 times out of your day. Anti-virus software for a Mac is a prevention tool not something to be considered after all the information has been formatted and your the system as become a spambot zombie.

Now when I see this 43 cents per infected Mac, well now here is the ammo I need if the last argument wasn’t good enough (we do have people who drive without seatbelts, text while speeding down the highway and read newspapers while in traffic, so you never know). The Russian spamming and malware mob (partnerka) is after your Mac!

To elaborate further, Sophos’ Paul Ducklin, posted a blog linking to Dmitry Samosseiko’s (security researcher and analyst extraordinaire from Sophos Canada) paper on partnerka. Its a good read, the link to the blog and a link to the paper. In the paper, Dmitry discusses the lucrative industry of Mac malware scams with many would-be malware spreaders making roughly $5k in some 11 days of effort.

Before the Internet, when we moved files via floppies, null modem connections, and the like, even then it was good policy to have anti-virus software on your system. I can’t tell you how many computers I saw fail on March 6th, cause people didn’t do a simple virus scan for the Michelangelo virus.

It doesn’t matter the OS, the type of system (desktop, laptop, blade server), or even if its connected to the Internet, a computer should have security programs on it at the very least. You should have anti-virus, anti-malware, and some sort of firewall.