Pirated Copies of Software are like a box of Chocolate, Ya never know what your gonna get...

(image found on informationweek.com website)

No where is this more true then with the people who downloaded the Pirated Apple iWork 09 software. Intego (Mac security software company) on Wednesday has announced it has identified an unknown Trojan software that affects machines running Mac OS X. The Trojan was found in pirated copies of Apples new software iWork 09 on various site where pirated software is illegally distributed. Intgo has identified the Trojan as "iWorkServices". The item is installed when the pirated copy of iWork09 suite is installed on the machine.

"The installer for the Trojan horse is launched as soon as a user begins the installation of iWork, following the installer's request of an administrator password (in older versions of Mac OS X, 10.5.1 or earlier, there will be no password request)," the company said. "This software is installed as a startup item (in /System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices, a location reserved normally for Apple startup items), where it has read-write-execute permissions for root."

Once installed, the malware connects to a remote server over the Internet, potentially allowing the malware author to steal information, control the compromised computer remotely, or trigger the downloading of additional malicious components. Intego claims that at least 20,000 people have downloaded infected versions of iWork 09. It urges Mac owners not to download iWork from disreputable sites."

Hopefully, more Mac OS X owners will heed this warning and not download this illegal software suite and just go buy it if they need it. I think to many people have gotten to comfortable in the Mac world and forgotten that they can too be susceptible to little nuances that PC owners have become use too.

Mac OS X Trojan Found In Pirated iWork 09 (Information Week)
Mac Trojan Targets Pirated Apple iWorks (ChannelWeb)
Trojan hides in pirated copies of Apple's iWork '09 (Computerworld Security)
Plagiarized iWork software contaminating Macs with Trojan horse (themoneytimes.com)