Is This a Virus?

I cannot really see anything in that Facebook link (empty page, but then again, I have no FB account).

Do you have Norton installed?

And it is probably not a virus, it would be the first one affecting Mac OS X in public circulation.

Do you have a link to that tabs website? And what specs and Mac OS X version does your computer have and use?


Currently there are zero viruses affecting Mac OS X in public circulation, but there are other kinds of malware existing, that can infect your Mac.
To learn more about malware in Mac OS X and what steps can be taken to protect yourself, read the following F.A.Q.:

Royalpark said:

I'll start by saying that I'm a mac dummy (amongst many other things.)
I'm running MAC OS 10.6.8, if that makes a difference, and Firfeox for
a browser.
Yesterday my Imac started showing strange behavior. When I'm browsing
Yahoo News I get a Norton Phishing warning with this as the offending
link:
http://www.facebook.com/plugins/login_button.php?size=large&l...
I never go on Facebook.

Also, when I access web sites for song lyrics and chords (I'm a guitar
dummy too) my computer hangs up. I can't even shut it down. A Norton
virus scan finds no viruses. What's going on here?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing you installed Norton? If so I would uninstall it and see if that fixes the problem.

What's more, a report released Tuesday by security firm Imperva details a separate SQL injection attack that last month gave hackers control over Yahoo servers, suggesting that such problems are systemic.

Click to expand...

This is a quote from an article on Ars Technica yesterday about Yahoo's XSS vulnerabilities. Their sites/cookies have been compromised for some time. Yahoo issued a statement yesterday that they'd patched it, but it sounds like their websites are still throwing up malicious links.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/01/how-yahoo-allowed-hackers-to-hijack-my-neighbors-e-mail-account/

This is ticking me off because of the Yahoo/ATT mail spam I've been getting from friends with malicious links lately. (Not ticked off with friends, well, most of them, --because it had nothing to do with the strength of their passwords etc., it was all Yahoo's bad code.)

I'd vote with your foot traffic and stay away from Yahoo sites until they finally address their problems in a meaningful way.

Royalpark said:

Thanks for the responses. I have had Norton running for a few
months with no problems. If I uninstall it might the phish attempt
get through?
I'm running MAC OS X 10.6.8, Firefox 18.0.1 with Norton
Confidential (green site verification bar.)

Why would I get this phishing warning only with Yahoo News, and
why does the system only hang up with various music sites,
although there are no problems with Chordie.

Click to expand...

I would open up activity monitor to see how many resources Norton is using. I'm just not a big fan of Norton at all after seeing the way it has affected both Windows-based and OSX-based computers.

This goes for Norton as well.

Q : Do you use anti-virus software Mr. McAfee ?

John McAfee : No. These anti-virus programs are crap.

3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link. Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.

If you still want to run antivirus for some reason, ClamXav (which is free) is one of the best choices, since it isn't a resource hog, detects both Mac and Windows malware and doesn't run with elevated privileges.

Royalpark said:

I appreciate the responses, but have not received an answer that
addresses the problem. Why Yahoo News and various music
lyric/chord sites only?
Norton has been using .3 to .0 with 5 threads.

Click to expand...

Probably because Norton has them on their list. Since you bought their application bundle, aren't you entitled to get some kind of support from them and ask them those questions?

And what about uninstalling Norton and using those Safe Security Steps you got linked to?

I have been running Macs running Mac OS X for 8 years or so and visited all kinds of shady sites (Yahoo! and tab/chord sites definitely do not belong to such) since then, and I never contracted malware or got such ridiculous messages, but then again, I was not using any AV application and just used common sense.

simsaladimbamba said:

, I was not using any AV application and just used common sense.

Click to expand...

Sadly people think by buying norton or McAfree that they no longer need to exercise common sense, thinking buying an AV program does it for them.

The common sense thing to do would have been not to buy Norton in the first place.

Seriously OP on a mac you really don't need it.

Royalpark said:

The situation is getting worse! I'm getting these phishing warnings
from many different sites. What if uninstalled Firefox and Norton
and reinstalled them?

Click to expand...

What if you just uninstalled Norton and do not reinstall it?

Have you tried to check/repair the drive permissions using the OS utility? FireFox preferences, see privacy check the "tell websites I do not want to be tracked", clear the history.

Norton is pretty good stuff, it is used in the industry. Another acknowledgment of it capabilities to protect, comcast will issue their customer the application when they discover nastiness on the customers machines. Comcast does not want the customers machine infecting there systems.

Macafee was good but has lost it's edge, Norton is the go too today.

Cheers,
Greg