Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Has my Mac been hacked??

J

jon08

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
1,893
109
Just this morning I noticed several of the folders I have on my desktop have been misteriously renamed to some random letters lik "Đ", "čš" and what not. Also, another folder got added some random numbers like 6656 or something like that to its name.

I worried it could be someone hacking into my system??

Please help...
 
Cinematographer said:
Are you sure that the cat didn't play with the keyboard? ;)
Click to expand...

No need to be poking fun at this thread. I was serious about what occurred and it obviously concerns me because it surely wasn't me who renamed those folders.

Is it possible that somehow the system would mess them up by itself??

johnrs said:
corruption perhaps. Run repair and see what the does.
Click to expand...

I actually already RE-renamed the folders back to what their names were prior to that mess. But I will still run the "permission repair" thing in OnyX. I do hope it only had to do with that.....
 
One of the down sides of MacOS not being a target is that there are are not too many programs that you can download to scan your mac with to check for suspicious software.

I am sure that someone here could suggest such a program
 
jon08 said:
I actually already RE-renamed the folders back to what their names were prior to that mess. But I will still run the "permission repair" thing in OnyX. I do hope it only had to do with that.....
Click to expand...

Run a permission repair in Disk Utility.

Are the files in the folders fine?
 
iPhone 62S said:
Run a permission repair in Disk Utility.

Are the files in the folders fine?
Click to expand...

Is there a difference if I run permission repair in Disk Utility vs. OnyX? The files in the folders seem fine tho - it was mostly pics in those four folders whose names got messed up.
 
jon08 said:
Is there a difference if I run permission repair in Disk Utility vs. OnyX? The files in the folders seem fine tho - it was mostly pics in those four folders whose names got messed up.
Click to expand...

Disk Utility is the official Apple solution for it, so I recommend using it.

Have you got all the security updates installed? Open Software Update and see if there's anything you haven't installed.

Do you use a router? Do you have the firewall turned on in your Mac?
 
iPhone 62S said:
Disk Utility is the official Apple solution for it, so I recommend using it.

Have you got all the security updates installed? Open Software Update and see if there's anything you haven't installed.

Do you use a router? Do you have the firewall turned on in your Mac?
Click to expand...

Yeah I do have all the updates installed. Also, I do use a router and have the firewall turned on - "Allow only essential services" with Stealth Mode on...
 
jon08 said:
Yeah I do have all the updates installed. Also, I do use a router and have the firewall turned on - "Allow only essential services" with Stealth Mode on...
Click to expand...

Your Mac probably wasen't hacked then.

Have you checked your Console logs?
 
jon08 said:
No, I haven't. What should I look for there?
Click to expand...

Look at the parts from the time the folder problem happened. Post them here, too. If the Mac was hacked (highly unlikely) it might show up somewhere in there too.
 
Yes it was hacked. Your only option is to soak your mac in gasoline and light it on fire.
 
jon08 said:
No need to be poking fun at this thread. I was serious about what occurred and it obviously concerns me because it surely wasn't me who renamed those folders.

Is it possible that somehow the system would mess them up by itself??
Click to expand...
He might not have been joking. If he was joking, I will now seriously suggest that a cat/dog/kid might have done this by sitting on your keyboard. "åß*wwwwwwwwπ.html.download" mysteriously appeared on my desktop after Magnet, my two year old Nebelung took a nap on my toasty keyboard. She doesn't have mad haxorz skillz.
 
jon08 said:
Just this morning I noticed several of the folders I have on my desktop have been misteriously renamed to some random letters lik "Đ", "čš" and what not. Also, another folder got added some random numbers like 6656 or something like that to its name.

I worried it could be someone hacking into my system??

Please help...
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry about that. I was stealing your credit card information.
 
sine-nomine said:
I had my cat change a few filenames on my desktop and somehow add two contacts to gmail, all with random names, so it does happen.
Click to expand...

Yeah mine somehow managed to get Spaces up and move my Firefox window to a different space by sitting on the keyboard :p
 
I should have known better that were going to be smart asses coming with lame comments about cats, and no, I don't own a cat nor any other pets. And it is only myself who's using this very computer of mine, so obviously it will raise some concern in me when I find out some of the folder names have been misteriously renamed to odd names/letters.
 
jon08 said:
I should have known better that were going to be smart asses coming with lame comments about cats, and no, I don't own a cat nor any other pets. And it is only myself who's using this very computer of mine, so obviously it will raise some concern in me when I find out some of the folder names have been misteriously renamed to odd names/letters.
Click to expand...

It is true though. Animals have been known to do things like this. There is nothing lame about it, it is a valid and necessary question. Until you rule it out, it is a plausible explanation.

Also consider that maybe you had focus on the desktop when you started typing something else. This has happened to people as well.
 
jon08 said:
I should have known better that were going to be smart asses coming with lame comments about cats, and no, I don't own a cat nor any other pets.
Click to expand...

Sorry. You said nothing before about the presence or absence of cats. Again, I was seriously suggesting that it could have been a pet, as something similar happened with my computer.

Maybe if you had a pet, you'd lighten up a little.
 
jon08 said:
I should have known better that were going to be smart asses coming with lame comments about cats, and no, I don't own a cat nor any other pets. And it is only myself who's using this very computer of mine, so obviously it will raise some concern in me when I find out some of the folder names have been misteriously renamed to odd names/letters.
Click to expand...

Did you get my last PM?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back