Reason #1013 not to Pirate software

There are many reasons NOT to pirate software: ethics, legal issues, inevitable corrupted files, lack of tech support, denying developers the money they need to continue the software, etc. But we have a reminder of perhaps the best reason not to download software off of the internet: it is very likely to be infected with a virus or trojan horse. A pirated version of iWork is infecting naive and unethical users with a back door into their Macs.

Security firm Intego identified the trojan in question late yesterday. Dubbed "OSX.Trojan.iServices.A," the trojan is hidden as an extra package—iWorkServices.pkg—in an otherwise fully-functional iWork '09 installer. Once you authenticate with your password to install the software, the trojan installs as a startup item in /System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices, an area normally reserved for Apple-only files, giving it read, write, and execute permissions as root. It then connects to a remote server, essentially creating a wide open back door for malicious attackers to do just about anything they want.

Overview of iWork.Com

When Apple announced iWork.Com on Tuesday, the internet was instantly alight with a single question, "Why bother creating a Google Docs competitor?" After all, many businesses and individuals already find Google Docs to provide all the function they need for FREE (iWork is free as Beta, but will be paid eventually). AppleInsider has up a good overview of the new service and explains how it fits into Apple's iWork strategy.

For Apple, online services are a way to enhance its desktop apps rather than to replace them. MobileMe enhances Mac OS X's Mail, Contacts, and Address Book by making their data available online and to mobile devices, or at least the iPhone and iPod touch. The new iWork.com does the same thing for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers: it makes it super easy to sync documents up to the cloud for access from the iPhone, as well as making it trivial to present documents to Windows PC and Office users, with no translation required.

I was originally quite excited about iWork. I bought the original and upgrades thru iWork 08. But I have honestly almost never used the software - opting for Google Docs, NeoOffice, and OpenOffice instead - and do not plan to upgrade to iWork 09. Perhaps iWork.Com can change the mind of others like me.