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Topic: Malware

How Apple has responded to Mac malware

Summary: In May 2011, Apple issued its first-ever security update designed to remove malware on Macs. Has Apple's response to Mac Defender been good enough for its customers? And is Apple prepared for the next attack? This gallery shows what Apple has done with Security Update 2011-003.

Ed Bott

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This version of the Mac Defender downloader was released on Friday morning, and the Friday evening signature from Apple successfully detects it. The Move To Trash option is the default. 

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Topics: Malware, Apple, Hardware, Security

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  • Apple may not have been as forward as they possibly should have been...

    BUT, you really need to be an idiot to give a user Admin Access without training them, or actually, maybe just giving a user Admin Access.

    You have to have an Admin account to load this crap, THEN download it by clicking on a button, then ENTER YOUR ADMIN PASSWORD, then ignore the warning about it being software from the Internet.

    Geez, how stupid do you have to be?

    No one in my house, my extended family, or my company can be that stupid, because ***I*** am the administrator.

    They cannot be stupid because they cannot download this crap no matter how stupid they are.

    In Windoz, it can be forced into the system by flaws in the OS or IE, or even Macros in Word or Excel.

    Oh, well.
    Fetrow
    Reply Vote

    • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

      @Fetrow you're a little out of touch because "Mac Guard introduced a new technique that does not require your password to be entered if you are running an Administrator account. As you can see, the malware developers are already introducing new techniques to make it easier for their programs to be installed. I expect as time goes on, these developers will introduce new techniques that will make removing these programs harder to do."

      bleepingcomputer
      COYI1895
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      • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

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      • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

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      • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

        @COYI1895 I dont know if we can even consider "viruses on mac" since they are really rare. The only time i got a virus on my mac was when i was visiting Amsterdam. It got pretty crazy over there! <A HREF="http://www.globalgrasshopper.com/travel/top-10-amsterdam-travel-snobs/">Things to do in Amsterdam</A>
        green_man123
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      • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

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        monstertricks
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    • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

      @Fetrow
      so your answer to stopping malware on apple divices is to have a personel IT guy in control of all your "i" divices very sensible advice although if MS did the same thing im sure windows would be a lot safer too so not really a apple only safety method, but then i doubt apple pay you to be anyones personnel IT guy so your point is kinda moot on that score and MS does tend to be proactive with security now adays as they learned from history, as flaws are found they push out fixes just like apple has done.
      P.S your family, friends and co workers probably love being called stupid by default. you dont have to be stupid to make mistake just stupid not to learn from them
      ru_black1971@...
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      • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

        @ru_black1971@... How does Apple keep your information secure in their cloud service? Is it encrypted? Who has the access keys?
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      • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

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    • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

      @Fetrow <br>You don't need an administrator password to take over a mac computer and run malicious code as Charlie Miller and the other pwn2own stars will tell you. They've actually proved this. <br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn2Own" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn2Own</a><br><br>Btw, I think viruses on OSX are a lot more common than people think, it's just that no one knows they are viruses yet. A friend of mine has a mac air and it was behaving very much like it had a virus. Then it wouldn't boot. On most computers I would have just booted into a live linux cd and saved her files for her then reformat the thing. But since it was a mac air and it won't boot from a portable dvd player unless it's made by Apple, I told her to take it to a "Mac Genius" who just reformatted her drive and didn't even attempt to save her files. (I could have done that). She asked the guy what was wrong and he wouldn't give her any information. It wasn't a hardware problem because they didn't change any hardware and thing was practically new and she hadn't installed anything at all on her machine. I'm willing to bet anything that it was a virus!
      mookiemu
      Reply Vote

  • RE: How Apple has responded to Mac malware

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