Just what we didn't need

Nicole Perlroth has an article in The New York Times about the latest in malware (and, no, that's not a type of ugly fashion, though the previous post might've used it):

Earlier this month, security researchers discovered a new piece of malware had infected more than half a million Apple computers in what was the largest-scale attack on Apple’s Mac OS X operating system to date. The malware spread through a security hole in Java software that let its creators download a malicious program onto victims’ machines without prompting. Users did not even have to click a malicious link for their computers to be infected. The program simply downloaded itself.
Apple released two security patches for the vulnerability and encouraged Mac users to run their software updates as soon as possible. Within two weeks, the number of infected computers dropped from 600,000 to 140,000, according to Symantec.
However, researchers at Intego, another computer security firm, have discovered that a new variant of the malware, called Flashback.S, continued to spread through the same Java vulnerability. Security researchers said the variant was “actively being distributed in the wild” and noted that the malware deletes traces of itself on victims’ machines to avoid detection.
The original Flashback variant used infected computers for click fraud, in which clicks on a web advertisement are manipulated in exchange for kickbacks. Intego researchers did not say what the new variant of Flashback is being used for. But, as with all malware, its creators can choose to use infected computers however they like.
This is not the first time that Mac users have been hit by a Windows-style computer virus. Last year, security researchers discovered that a piece of malware, called Mac Defender, was aimed at Macs until Apple released a patch at the end of May in 2011.
Several cautioned that it signaled a new era, in which Mac users become the new target for Windows-style malware attacks. Windows computers were a frequent target for attacks because there had always been more of them. Now, security researchers say, Apple’s growing share of the PC market has put a target on its back.
In 2008, Adam J. O’Donnell, a security architect at Sourcefire, a computer security firm, predicted that digital criminals would take aim at Mac users with Windows-style malware attacks once Apple’s share of the PC market reached sixteen percent, assuming that Windows’ antivirus solutions were at least eighty percent effective.
Apple currently holds twelve percent of the PC market in the United States, according to Gartner, a research company.

Rico says that, as ever, yes, it's only twelve percent, but it's the smartest twelve percent. Now we just have to have find some of these guys and hack their hands off...