Flashback Trojan Removal Tool Officially Released By Apple

Apple has officially released Flashback Trojan Removal Tool that targets OS X Lion 10.7 users.

The Cupertino software giant has recommended all Mac users, who do not have Java installed on their OS X Lion, to run the standalone removal tool. Functionality of the tool is identical to that which is performed by the most recent Java update.

technical note about the utility on Apple’s Support site states that “If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will be presented notifying the user that malware was removed.” Further, it states that “In some cases, the Flashback malware removal tool may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware.”

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If you are running OS X Lion and your Mac does not have Java installed or you did not install the most recent Java for OS X updates, running this tool is absolutely recommended.

Here is a quick walk-through of what you need to do:

  1. First, Download the tool directly from Apple or use Lion’s inbuilt Software Update to download the tool.
  2. If you’ve downloaded the tool using the link above, mount the DMG file and launch FlashbackMalwareRemover.pkg. If you’ve used Software Update, the tool will launch itself after download.
  3. Click on the Continue, click “Install” and enter your OS X Lion administrative password when prompted for.

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  1. Just wait until the tool repairs your Mac, if its infected.

Before the release of the official tool, major security vendors already made available Flashback Removal Tools for Mac users. Kaspersky released their own free tool called FlashFake removal tool for removing the Flashback malware. F-Secure provided a step-by-step instructions for removing the Flashback trojan.

Flashback Trojan (and its many variants) is one of the biggest malware threat for Mac users. Originally discovered by third-party security vendors and later patched by them before Apple, the malware disguises itself as Adobe Flash installer for Mac.

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