Topic: Ruh Roh -- Attention Mac users

[Pandora]

Malware attack specifically targets Mac users.

The Next Web reports that a malware version of the popular MacDefender antivirus application is confusing and infecting a great number of Mac users right now:

    Early reports show that users have been targeted as they search Google Images, one user stating that the bogus MacDefender application was automatically downloaded as he browsed images of Piranhas. Further searching through the Apple Discussion boards suggests that the malware campaign is targeting users of Apple’s Safari browser, displaying warnings that the user’s computer has been infected with viruses that only the unofficial MacDefender application can remove.

Part of the reason many are being easily infected by the malware is that Safari — the default browser in Mac OS — can be set to automatically open trusted software. This means that users are getting infected without even a hint of what's happening until the malicious app demands payment for "protection" like a digital mob boss.

H/T Ed Mahmoud

[ToddF]

The only reason Apple hasn't had problems, was that no one cared enough to target the few users.

With Ipads that will change.

[Glock32]

According to their fanboys this is an utter impossibility.

[Pandora]

Rickl's a Mac user and he's been having beaucoup trouble with it the last couple of days, but from what he described, this doesn't sound like the problem.  Still, you never know.  At least I don't.

[charlesoakwood]

Google images is a viral cesspool, their new format opened a previously closed vulnerability.  It is a dangerous place to visit.  I quit entirely after getting an alert while searching for a map.

[John Florida]

It's not unusual for a new malware attack to pop up on the Internet every other moment, but the latest vicious bit of software floating around is particularly fascinating because it specifically targets Mac users.

Who ever moved it thanks. I didn't see this on general board.Sorry Pan.

[trapeze]

I guess I am one of those Mac fanboys.

I don't run anti-virus software. Never have.

Anything installed on my Mac (or any other Mac that I know of) must have a human being type in the main password. Otherwise, no install.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, installs on a Mac without a human typing in the password.

If someone was dumb enough to install a Mac anti-virus program when one isn't needed then they get what they deserve.

My MacBook has been running perfectly for nearly four years now and just about the only time I have had to even reboot the thing was during an application installation. Otherwise it just hibernates perpetually. I surf wherever I like without any fear at all.

PC users can mock us "fanboys" all they want but we don't spend endless hours cleaning our registries, defragging our hard drives, paying for endless anti-virus subscriptions or any of the other myriad annoying things that come part and parcel with any Windows OS. I know because until four years ago I used to do that stuff. I have three Macs in the house now, two MacBooks and one iMac desktop that I use in my business. Can't wait to upgrade to Quickbooks for Mac at the end of the year.

Now I just use my computer and it just works. If that makes me a fanboy, so be it.

[trapeze]

This was posted on the Mac Forums site regarding this issue. No replies yet but there will be.

There has been no documented case of a virus successfully infecting a Mac. Malware is not a virus. A virus is self replicating. Malware is not. Malware is composed of trojans, worms or spyware. None of these are viruses.

Here is the official Mac security page. It offers simple common sense advice on avoiding malware. People who end up with malware on their Macs have only themselves to blame.

Avoiding sites that traffic in porn and pirated music or software is a pretty good idea.

Here is the official Mac Forums anti virus thread. Lots of FAQ's at the beginning.

Another vulnerability would be by way of phishing. Again, this is a user problem instead of a Mac OS problem. If you are stupid enough to give out your password to some site then you get what you deserve. I would also never allow a web email site like Yahoo or Gmail to get a hold of my email address book since their sites have been compromised in the past and no doubt will be again.

Bottom line: This is not a Mac OS problem. This is a potential problem for naive and/or foolish Mac users. And it isn't new.

[Glock32]

I've been using PCs since 1984 and never had any of those problems either. You seem to have taken it personal. Sorry, but Mac fanboyism is real just like with cars, video consoles, and whatever else. Some people even do it with presidents.

I used to run a 300 user corporate network with about 15 Mac users. They proved that "the user" can screw up anything you give them.

[trapeze]

I've been using PCs since 1984 and never had any of those problems either. You seem to have taken it personal. Sorry, but Mac fanboyism is real just like with cars, video consoles, and whatever else. Some people even do it with presidents.

I used to run a 300 user corporate network with about 15 Mac users. They proved that "the user" can screw up anything you give them.

I don't take it personally. That would be rather "fanboyish" of me if I did. And as you noted it is the user rather than the system that is the problem for Macs.

No, I have just had it with PC's. I finally got my wife off of her PC so now I won't be wasting any of my time fixing the endless crap that makes it run slower and slower. If my many years of experience with PC's (my first computer was a Radio Shack TRS80) and my subsequent hatred of them, my weariness of waiting for MS to get it right makes me a Mac fanboy then so be it.

You can't make cars for stupid people either. They drive them into stationary objects all the same.

[Glock32]

No I wouldn't call your decisions fanboyish because you can motivate them with real reasons.

Fanboys are those who are so enamored of something that it's not that they can't see its flaws but actively refuse to because it conflicts with the narrative they have adopted. I used to be on a forum where regular flamewars erupted between the Glock fanboys and the HK fanboys. The Glock fanboys took the "Perfection." tagline as gospel, and the HK fanboys knew their hardware was perfect because special ops carries them and they cost $1400 versus the $500-ish price of competing models. I owned one of each at the time and thought it was pathetic if not a bit entertaining that grown men were engaging in passionate arguments about products they personally had no emotional or technical investment in designing or manufacturing.

I long ago quit caring about the computer wars because working in the IT field no matter what your users have it's never working right and it's always the IT Dept's fault. If Fischer-Price made computers I would happily deploy those.

[trapeze]

When they stop putting buttons and knobs on things you will be out of a job. Until then, not so much.

And I favor a S&W Sigma which, as you probably know, is a shameless ripoff of the Glock. I considered an HK but liked the price of the S&W which was on sale at the time. Great gun. Has a slight loading problem with FMJ's but JHP's have never failed to work.