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Newest Vicious Phishing Effort?

IJ Reilly

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
This morning I clicked on a Google search link and was attacked by a popup, which itself is unusual. It did not allow me to cancel the dialog box. Clicking OK resulted in being send to another site, which immediately full-sized my Safari window to look like a Windows XP desktop, which then began "scanning" my computer for viruses, and popping up the "results," which you can see in the attachments. The most interesting things about this particular attack is that (1) Safari did not block it, and (2) the "scanning" seemed to be hosted on the server of a legitimate company (a plastics company in New Jersey), which presumably was hacked. The "websecurityworld.com" server is inaccessible. I haven't checked the registration yet.

Has anyone else seen this one?
 

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iParis

iParis

macrumors 68040
Jul 29, 2008
3,671
31
New Mexico
I'd recommend fixing that asap.
That kind of stuff has often happened to me in the past; all goes downhill from there.
Although, I was on Windows XP computer and I got a pop up giving me the message you got, then it forced to download "Spy doctor."
 
IJ Reilly

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
iParis said:
I'd recommend fixing that asap.
That kind of stuff has often happened to me in the past; all goes downhill from there.
Although, I was on Windows XP computer and I got a pop up giving me the message you got, then it forced to download "Spy doctor."
Click to expand...

Fix what? I don't see how this can harm a Mac.

r.j.s said:
Did it give you any cool presents in your downloads folder?
Click to expand...

Not that I can find.
 
IJ Reilly

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
iParis said:
Well, find out if it did anything and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Click to expand...

It couldn't really do anything on a Mac unless I authorized it with an administrative password, and AFAIK there's no way to prevent it from happening again, unless I plan on never clicking Google links.
 
JG271

JG271

macrumors 6502a
Dec 17, 2007
784
1
UK
I just had something similar, when I viewed a site that i've been on hundreds of times before. It kept redirecting me to various javascript alerts and redirections. Maybe the website itself is infected... if not I might need to change my sig.

Last week i've also been redirected straight from a google link. Odd, but more annoying than harmful I think.
 
iParis

iParis

macrumors 68040
Jul 29, 2008
3,671
31
New Mexico
Ugh. Great... I'm on a PC and something similar happened to me while using Safari.
All I did was search for "open office" on [some site] and this came up.

BTW, what I was doing wasn't illegal because Open Office has always been a free application.

EDIT: I didn't press "ignore this warning" or "go back," I just opened up the task manager ended Safari.
 

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lord patton

lord patton

macrumors 65816
Jun 6, 2005
1,052
12
Chicago
I've seen something similar over the last few weeks... mostly after clicking on links to editorials from financial papers found on realclearpolitics.com.

It happened 2 or 3 times. All of a sudden a window (in Safari 3, Leopard) would "take over" and display some bs regarding security settings or scanning or some such. An obvious fake.

The annoying thing is that I couldn't get rid of it except to force quit Safari—all the menu options were greyed out and I couldn't access any other Safari windows.
 
iParis

iParis

macrumors 68040
Jul 29, 2008
3,671
31
New Mexico
lord patton said:
I've seen something similar over the last few weeks... mostly after clicking on links to editorials from financial papers found on realclearpolitics.com.

It happened 2 or 3 times. All of a sudden a window (in Safari 3, Leopard) would "take over" and display some bs regarding security settings or scanning or some such. An obvious fake.

The annoying thing is that I couldn't get rid of it except to force quit Safari—all the menu options were greyed out and I couldn't access any other Safari windows.
Click to expand...

Do you guys think this has something to do with Safari? I've noticed nobody saying this for FireFox, Opera, etc.
 
IJ Reilly

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
iParis said:
Do you guys think this has something to do with Safari? I've noticed nobody saying this for FireFox, Opera, etc.
Click to expand...

Good question, but why would anyone go to this much trouble to target only Safari users, most of whom are running it on a Mac?
 
Macky-Mac

Macky-Mac

macrumors 68040
May 18, 2004
3,510
2,557
does it ultimately "recommend" you buy & download some product to deal with all these "security problems" it shows you?? or does it install something on your computer when you click on "remove"??
 
EvanLugh

EvanLugh

macrumors 68000
Aug 29, 2007
1,929
2
Developer land
iParis said:
Ugh. Great... I'm on a PC and something similar happened to me while using Safari.
All I did was search for "open office" on [some site] and this came up.

BTW, what I was doing wasn't illegal because Open Office has always been a free application.

EDIT: I didn't press "ignore this warning" or "go back," I just opened up the task manager ended Safari.
Click to expand...

Lol Mininova.. The page is safari's new blocker? Or am I missing something?
 
iParis

iParis

macrumors 68040
Jul 29, 2008
3,671
31
New Mexico
EvanLugh said:
Lol Mininova.. The page is safari's new blocker? Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

No, Lol.
I always used mininova and after awhile I went back and it wasn't blocked.
That thing where it says it's detecting a virus is obviously a virus itself.
 
IJ Reilly

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
Macky-Mac said:
does it ultimately "recommend" you buy & download some product to deal with all these "security problems" it shows you?? or does it install something on your computer when you click on "remove"??
Click to expand...

I don't know -- I didn't click on anything. ;)
 
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