Researchers at Doctor Web have discovered a new botnet that they say already could have amassed more than 17,000 infected Macs in its arsenal.
The machines appear to be infected with malware known as Mac.BackDoor.iWorm. Although the researchers didn't identify how the bug's being spread, they did acknowledge that the infected systems receive information from an unconventional portal: Reddit.
Through Reddit's search function, the infected machines look for specific comments on the site that contain a list of botnet command-and-control servers and ports. The bots then pick a random server to query and through a “special routine,” try and connect the compromised machine to the server.
The researchers said that the majority of infected machines, 26.1 percent, are located in the U.S.
