Apple Addresses 'Mac Defender' Threat With Security Update 2011-003 for Snow Leopard

[aliensporebomb]

Just "believe", but no proof?

Do you think that libel and slander are OK if the target is Microsoft?

I observe what I see and I report accordingly.

No one is perfect. Windows is a very large and complicated operating system and there are any number of loopholes in this system if you know where to look and have the correct knowledge. There are also
rootkits where the malware becomes the operating system.

Answer the following questions:

A public computer in a business is primarily for end users to use?
All users who log into this PC are members of the users group.
The users group does not have administrative rights to install or update software.
No software has any registry key edited to allow modify rights.

How is the malware gaining access to be installed on the system?
Some of the malware shows up in the all programs directory.
Some of the malware shows up in programs and features.

If you do not have administrative rights, you cannot install or update software.

Do you see my point?

Each building (of which there are 26) might have several hundred computers.

The "usual suspect" sites are locked out but like I said before many of these viral apps are coming from sites not normally known for viral payloads.

And, from the names, I'd guess that those are Trojans, not Viruses.

Doesn't matter what it's called - whatever the cause the result remains:
Malware. Stopper of productivity. Waste of technical staff time.

 

[AidenShaw]

Doesn't matter what it's called...

It does matter when you reply to a post talking about viruses with anecdotes about trojans.

I observe what I see and I report accordingly.

No one else sees what you see though - you are making libelous/slanderous claims without the slightest bit of evidence or backup.

To wit:

I've maintained all along that the perpetrators behind it (criminals) are using methods to get around certain security controls in Windows by using knowledge sold to them by ex-Microsoft employees.

Where do you "see" this - please "report" your sources.

This kind of paranoia gives the people wearing tin-foil hats a bad name....

 

[42streetsdown]

You almost understand 10.5? Well that's very nice of you. Many of us on 10.5 decided to wait until a full new OS comes out like Lion rather than going for a half measure like snow Leopard and we should certainly not be punished for doing so.

So we must suffer because we are on a slightly earlier OS?

No we should get an update to tackle this too.

The malware check that is being updated is a snow leopard feature. YOu can't update a feature you don't have. Snow Leopard is better than Leopard and it's cheep so stop whining and go spend $29 if you want the feature. (Lion so far hasn't look like much more than a "half measure" so your waiting seems to have been in vain.)

 

[42streetsdown]

i'm still curious as to what people are searching for to get the Mac Defender to download. i spent 15 min on google images searching and clicking and couldn't find it.

 

[cav23j]

i'm still curious as to what people are searching for to get the Mac Defender to download. i spent 15 min on google images searching and clicking and couldn't find it.

i got it right off a yahoo news article

 

[cmaier]

No, I can't imagine it. I'm running Windows 7 on my PC. I also have a Mac Mini, but I don't use it nearly as much.

I don't get viruses on Windows. It's a myth spread by the elitist Apple fanboys. Although, I guess I can be a bit elitist in a way in the Apply fanboy world for loving my iPhone 4, but wishing Apple would let us sideload Cydia or something.

I spent several hours wiping and reinstalling the OS on my in-laws' Dell. It would dial-out using the modem (yeah, they had a modem) to a 1-900 number in jamaica or something every night because of a "surf-by" virus they had gotten by just surfing to the wrong web page.

Windows machines certainly do get viruses. I even got one or two myself back in the day.

 

[maclaptop]

People complaining apple should have done an update withing 1-2 days. really? this is still blown out of proprotion, it's not a virus that installs itself automatically, it's something the user has to install themselves and actually run

This also holds true for Windows XP & 7.

I run windows on one workstation at work, along side OS X on a MBP.

For 15 years straight, I've enjoyed both.

Only once have I experienced a virus on Windows XP. Removing the virus was an easy twenty minute procedure. It's all relative. There may be more attacks on Windows, yet if one has his or her computer well protected, it's simply no big deal.

Those who use fear mongering to bash PC's, are revealing more about themselves than the product they act like they're an expert on.

But hey, whatever floats your boat.

 

[wesleyh]

If you do install such an app, couldn't it block the call from apple to the daily updated file quarantine list via /etc/hosts ? (You'd have to enter the admin password but this was shown not be a deterrent in this case)

 

[tblrsa]

If you do install such an app, couldn't it block the call from apple to the daily updated file quarantine list via /etc/hosts ? (You'd have to enter the admin password but this was shown not be a deterrent in this case)

It might, but for the malware to be able to block the call, you´d first have to install it. Apples Blacklist should detect the malware as soon as you are trying to access it.

 

[centauratlas]

It is only "malware prone" if you install bad software. It is not virus prone at all, this is not a virus. If I show up at your door, pound on it for minutes and say, "hey, I've got some candy for you little one" and you let me in, and I give you candy and while there I say "pay me $79.99 to get me to leave." Who is to blame? The door manufacturer? Should the door manufacturer have a "naive filter" there with warnings on the door saying "don't let creepy strangers in"?

The only solution Apple will have to prevent this type of thing from happening to naive users is to lock down the install system with the App Store being the default method to install software with everything else locked out - perhaps with a method for non-naive power-users to turn that off at their own risk. It will happen because Apple is catering to a big market section who is often naive and locking down installs will help protect that group.


As far as 10.6.x versions, Apple is supplying it for 10.6.7, just update to 10.6.7 and install. Apple has been pretty clear that they're updating the system regularly and that if you aren't running the latest version of the 10.6 series, you won't get all the updates.

While i dont know the actual threat of his particular 'malware', I think apple needs to do a lot better than this in future. Such hot fixes need to be available within a couple of days max. If i wanted to use a virus/malware prone PC for weeks, i'd have simply opted for a windows machine instead of the mac!

 

[Dr McKay]

LOL

We're "fanboys" and yet you don't think Windows has viruses?

I love Apple and probably am a fanboy and yet even I have never told such an unbelievable whopping lie about Apple.

I would say that 99% of the people that get malware on Windows 7, are the same people who would have fallen for this Mac Malware.

And as Windows 7 now accounts for 33.2% of all Computers. And Windows 7 32-bit has an infection rate of 3.8%, 64-bit has an infection rate of 2.5%.

This goes against the image that any PC will become swamped with malware the moment it is connected to the internet.

 

[occamsrazor]

"Files downloaded via applications such as Safari, iChat, and Mail are checked for safety at the time that they are opened. If a file is identified as containing known malware, the system will display a dialog that alerts you to move it to the Trash. You should empty the Trash to finalize the removal of the file."

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4651

Wait... so if I download a file from Firefox will it get scanned by the system for malware? Or not?

 

[Lesser Evets]

I don't get viruses on Windows.

iLOL'D

 

[BLACKFRIDAY]

I would say that 99% of the people that get viruses on Windows 7, are the same people who would have fallen for this Mac Malware.

And as Windows 7 now accounts for 33.2% of all Computers. And Windows 7 32-bit has an infection rate of 3.8%, 64-bit has an infection rate of 2.5%.

This goes against the image that any PC will become swamped with viruses the moment it is connected to the internet.

Virus and Malware are two different things.

 

[wesleyh]

Anyone know of a sample google image search query that leads me to this malware? Want to try this protection

 

[deputy_doofy]

The problem with MacRumors anecdotes is that most people here have a bit of skill with their PC.

Take a typical Mac user and a typical Windows user. Again, TYPICAL... not the guy here who claims in 10000000 years, he's never had a Windows virus. That guy is the exception, not the rule.

Now, let those users surf porn and torrent sites for a week or two. Not downloading anything. Not "installing" anything that might be needed to play said video. Just surfing. Playing some videos. Following links to see where they go.

Now, the obvious argument from Windows apologists will be, "Well, people shouldn't be going to those sites," and as I've learned, the people saying that ALSO go to those sites. Wouldn't be $1,000,000,000 industry if nobody was going to these things.

I guarantee the Macs would still be uninfected. The Windows boxes... I can't make that guarantee. This even applies to Windows 7.

Yes, I'm biased, but I used to work on Windows boxes daily for typical users and this stuff does happen. No amount of Windows experts hanging around on a Mac forum will change the reality of Windows and its infection rates.

 

[Fishrrman]

"And it should be available for 10.5 as well."

Agreed.

And also for 10.4.x -- because many users are still "back there".

One more thing:
Why didn't they issue an update for the 10.7 developer preview?

 

[Dr McKay]

Virus and Malware are two different things.

Viruses are Malware.

 

[BLACKFRIDAY]

Viruses are Malware.

Fine. Viruses are a type of malware, but the one's we are discussing here are NOT viruses.

 

[supmango]

Do you find viruses on Windows 7 machines?

I haven't seen one yet, but the one machine I manage that runs Windows 7 is running antivirus software. I have seen several different malware threats slip through though. And the antivirus software has stopped at least 5 different attempts at infection (that I know of). Unfortunately, the one common denominator in all of this is user knowledge. And, no matter how hard anyone tries to educate users, there will always be people using computers who have no business doing anything beyond word processing.

 

[GGJstudios]

Except it does install automatically...

No, it doesn't.

Many of us on 10.5 decided to wait until a full new OS comes out like Lion rather than going for a half measure like snow Leopard and we should certainly not be punished for doing so.

You can easily avoid the MacDefender problem on 10.5. Just uncheck "Open "safe" files after downloading" in Safari and trash any installer that downloads. Done!

Mac Virus/Malware Info

 

[Casiotone]

You can easily avoid the MacDefender problem on 10.5. Just uncheck "Open "safe" files after downloading" in Safari and trash any installer that downloads. Done!

If you're smart enough to trash any unsolicited installer file from your download folder, you should be smart enough to quit any unsolicited installation that would pop up if you do leave that "Open safe files..." option checked.

Remember, as you said yourself, Macdefender doesn't install automatically, even with this option turned on. It does start the standard Apple installer app automatically, but from there it's easy to quit before it can do any harm.

 

[yegon]

This talk of it being a myth, I'll echo what deputy doofy says.

IMO amongst the savvy and those who frequent forums, malware and virus's don't rear their ugly head very often, simply because you know better than to run certain executables and ignore certain prompts. I've never once experienced virus/serious malware since using Win7 past couple of years, and it was probably about 2005 the last time I had problems with XP.

That's the savvy though, we're in the vast minority. The number of times I hear people at work/on the train/bus/outside say "my computers dead slow, there's something wrong with it, it needs replacing(?!)" is beyond count, so it is an issue. Flipside, non-savvy mac users are (currently) blessed.

Point being, it's a problem, but not generally for the likes of us. For the record, I'd prefer OSX personally, but I'm largely neutral.