F-Secure Releases Free Tool to Detect and Remove Flashback Trojan

F-Secure has created a free tool that automates the detection and removal of the widespread Flashback trojan.

The tools creates a log file (RemoveFlashback.log) on current user's Desktop. If any infections are found, they are quarantined into an encrypted ZIP file (flashback_quarantine.zip) to the current user's Home folder. The ZIP is encrypted with the password 'infected'.

Apple has announced that it's working on a fix for the malware, but has given no schedule for it. Quite surprisingly, Apple hasn't added detection for Flashback - by far the most widespread OS X malware ever - to the built-in Xprotect OS X antivirus tool. Also note that Apple has not provided a patch for the Java vulnerability used by Flashback for OS X v10.5 (or earlier). More than 16% of Macs still run OS X 10.5.


How to use the tools:
1) Download FlashbackRemoval.zip to the Mac machine you want to scan.
2) Double-click the zip package to unzip it in the current folder
3) Double-click the FlashBack Removal app to run the tool
4) Follow the instructions to check your system and clean any infections

You can download the tool from here.

Read More