A good mac experience- for those planning to buy antivirus + info about recent virus

[u49aa2]

I just wanted to share this with you guys (not sure if it is old news):

I have been receiving few emails with the same title and content from two of my friends for the last month or so, however using my mac every time i try to download the pictures attached, my mac just cant read them. So i thought, it could be a compatibility issue (i know it is unlikely, considering these are only pictures) and just deleted them. But then after getting the same emails from two different peoples (who don't know each others) with the same title, several times made me a bit suspicious, last one was yesterday.

So i thought what the hell, let's use a PC and see what happen. Immediately after opening the attachment...i see a file trying to install itself into the OS, i wasn't able to block it myself, though thanks God there was an antivirus in the PC which detected the attachment as Trojan/virus and deleted it. I attached a picture of what the email looks like, I think it is Spanish:


So my advice is if you want to know if you received a virus/trojan in an email attachment then no need to buy an antivirus, just buy a mac

Edit: FYI, since using my mac to open the attachments, no problems happened, i.e. i haven't been sending multiple bogus emails to my contacts. It looks like this virus/trojan infect your computer and then copy your contact emails and start sending multiple bogus infected emails to all your contacts.

Title of the email: http://grix01.hpg.com.br/msn.html

 

[Jabbamk1]

ts obviously a scam if the title was called that. Ring up your friends and ask them if they ever sent you an email containing pictures.

It was probably an .exe disguised as a .jpg file. Thankfully mac os can not open .exe files so it wont harm your computer. If it was a .dmg file that downloaded, it could.

But then after getting the same emails from two different peoples (who don't know each others) with the same title, several times made me a bit suspicious, last one was yesterday.

i

Thats proof its from the scammer not your friend.. Try calling and asking. Never open up email you find suspicious and always ask the sender first.

Do your friends even speak spanish?

 

[Winni]

So my advice is if you want to know if you received a virus/trojan in an email attachment then no need to buy an antivirus, just buy a mac

It's cheaper to just use common sense...

And if that fails, you can still install an open source operating system like FreeBSD or GNU/Linux on the already existing hardware. There are also several anti-virus software suites available that are free of charge for private use. And then there's still ClamAV.

No need to buy a Mac just because the user does not activate his brain but instead clicks on everything that moves.

 

[elppa]

Regardless of whether anti-virus is on, Mac OS X places all executables downloaded from the net (including those attached in an email) in quarantine until the user confirms they are safe.

Even if an executable is disguised as an image or other document.

Even if it was an "image", you'd still see something like this:

The one for email is slightly different (edit: attached).

No need to buy a Mac just because the user does not activate his brain but instead clicks on everything that moves.

This is true, even with Apple's quarantine solution, if the user just clicks open without checking where it came from and when, then there is not much the machine can do. Social engineering exploits are impossible to guard against.

 

[drummerlondonw3]

it''s these simple steps that leave me 'warm' when using my Mac and cold when using a PC. Even in Vista with the check to continue (sorry I don't know what it's called) is annoying and frustrating

 

[u49aa2]

Guys, i don't think i communicate what i meant well by telling the story above:

I was being sarcastic, when i said buy a mac instead of Antivirus. I was hinting more toward if you have a mac, then you don't need to worry about viruses and if you have a PC just replace it with a mac and you won't need to worry about viruses/trojans (partially being sarcastic here again). I have seen few new threads recently about newbies buying antivirus software (e.g. Norton ) for their macs! and i thought this story will reassure them that Mac OS is pretty robust again these kinds of attacks.

I actually contacted both my friends and they confirmed that they didn't send me these emails. and no, none of my friends speaks Spanish, but i regularly receive funny emails (pictures, videos) from them for years and never had any issue, this is why i opened the attachments with no suspicion.

 

[bdj33ranch]

Just a little more info: The .br in the original email title is the country code assigned to Brazil and the language would likely be Portuguese.

 

[Igantius]

Just a little more info: The .br in the original email title is the country code assigned to Brazil and the language would likely be Portuguese.

Yeah, the language is Brazillian Portugese - this trojan has been around awhile and in less that 24 hours, I've received it five times... some friends I have!

 

[ditzy]

Yeah, the language is Brazillian Portugese - this trojan has been around awhile and in less that 24 hours, I've received it five times... some friends I have!

You're friends probably aren't sending it deliberately.

 

[Jabbamk1]

You're friends probably aren't sending it deliberately.

There not, yes there are loads of viruses for windows but most of the users do not use common sense and just open any email or website they get.

Osx has a much better security dystem but it can still get a few viruses very easily. E.g the ilife torrent virus and cs4 torrent virus.

 

[u49aa2]

There not, yes there are loads of viruses for windows but most of the users do not use common sense and just open any email or website they get.

Osx has a much better security dystem but it can still get a few viruses very easily. E.g the ilife torrent virus and cs4 torrent virus.

I never heard about the ilife virus or the CS4 one (maybe a trojan but not a virus). Can you please provide example of what did they do? and links if possible.

And even if they did exist, installing both programs will require you to enter your password. My point is; i am pretty confident that downloading any trojan into a mac OS without entering your password is pretty safe.

i.e no password = zero risk of infection

 

[Jabbamk1]

Dont get me wrong, macs are so much better than windows at stopping viruses from getting in. I was just saying that there are some known viruses for Mac.

Your right, i think they are trojans and malware-
http://www.atomicsub.net/2009/01/iwork-09-virus/

Sorry for the delayed post i was away for a while.

 

[TXbug]

Sarcasm or not, I agree get a Mac. I did.

My step-daughter had an HP, Windows, PC. She would click on anything, open any email, attachment, etc. Every 6 months I rebuilt it. Her PC was so infected, it failed to function.

When she went off to college, she wanted a laptop, Windows natrually, because she did not want to change and Windows was what all her friends used. Yes, she let her friends use her PC.

I bought her to a local electronic store to look a Mac's. She showed no interest and could not wait to leave. Even though she had a bad attitude, typical teenage girl, about the whole business of getting a laptop for college, I bought her a Mac, an iBook G4. I loaded Microsoft Office on it and off to college she went.

Now, 5 years later, she "can't live without" her Mac. And I did not have to rebuild the system at all to get rid of the hundreds of viruses, malware, trojan horses, and the like.

The Mac made everything just right with the world.