MacGuard malware more dangerous than MacDefender
malware for Mac discovered
Malware: OSX/MacDefender.F and OSX/MacDefender.G
Risk: Medium; effective SEO poisoning has led many Mac users to this type of malware, and no administrator password is required to install this new variant.
Again a malware emerged that pretends to be a virus scanner, but actually is the opposite. The MacGuard malware is more dangerous than MacDefender.
The main difference between the two is that MacDefender could not be installed without the administrator password. MacGuard can! Visiting a website is enough to initiate an installer program. The user still has to install itself by pressing the install-button. That’s why Intego considers the risk of infection as “medium”.
Continue reading “MacGuard malware more dangerous than MacDefender” »
Fake Antivirus Program Targets Mac Users
Malware: OSX/MacDefender.A
Risk: Low; in the wild, but not very widespread for now
Intego has discovered a fake antivirus program called Mac Defender, which targets Mac users via SEO poisoning attacks (web sites set up to take advantage of search engine optimization tricks to get malicious sites to appear at the top of search results). When a user clicks on certain links after performing a search on a search engine such as Google, they are sent to a web site that displays a fake Windows screen with an animated image showing a malware scan; a window then tells the user that their computer is infected.
Continue reading “Fake Antivirus Program Targets Mac Users” »
Keep your Mac secure
be in command
You can keep your Mac secure on the Internet by taking a few simple steps beyond those many significant ones that Apple has built into Mac OS X.
- Require a Password on Login and for Screensaver Deactivation. These settings require a system password to be entered before use of the system or when returning from the screen saver or waking up from sleep mode.
- Keep up with Software Updates for the MacOS as well as browser updates if you use a third-party web browser such as Firefox. These updates often include security patches to protect you.If you don’t use services such as remote login, file sharing or remote desktop then keep them turned off.Keep your date and time current in the ‘Data & Time’ System Preference pane, preferably using the ‘Set date & time automatically’ feature. If your date and time are wrong you can get warnings from good, secure websites due to the date and time mismatch. The problem with this is that if you get too many false alarms because of this issue you might accidentally ignore a real warning.When you log into web based email, always try and use an https link instead of http.