Flashback Trojan infected half a million Mac computers, a Russian anti-virus firm claims

A malware named 'Flashback' trojan has infected over half a million Mac machines in which half of the infected computers were installed in United States, claimed a Russian anti-virus firm.

According to firm, a software 'Dr. Web' has diagnosed about 6,00,000 Macs installed, have the malware infected, which is potentially allowing them to be hijacked and use them as "botnet".

"By introducing the code, criminals are potentially able to control the machine," the BBC quoted the firm's Chief Executive, Boris Sharov, as saying.

"We stress the word potential as we have never seen any malicious activity since we hijacked the botnet to take it out of criminals' hands. However, we know people create viruses to get money," he added.

Though Apple has released a security update, but users who still haven't installed the patch, remain at risk.

The malware, Flashback, was first detected last September, when anti-virus researchers released a software which posed itself as a Flash Player update. Once it was downloaded, it deactivated some of the computer's security software.

Dr Web also identified that 274 of the infected computers it detected, appeared to be located in Cupertino, California which is the home to Apple's headquarters.

--With ANI Inputs--