How is this Web Page taking over Safari?

[mr.light]

I was not sure where to post this so I am trying here. This is the second time this has happened and I am unsure as to what is happening. Ok... here is what is happening:

Cruising a variety of sights in Safari, suddenly, 1)Safari minimizes into a small window in the lower left of the screen; 2) a dialog box opens up warning of Data loss. Options are Cancel and OK. When you choose cancel Safari goes to another website claiming to scan your computer then tells you you must install. Naturally I close the window to ignore it, then 4) another box similar to the first one opens. It has no option except OK. No way to cancel. I am forced to Force quit Safari to get rid of it.

Any ideas? I have included screen shots.

 

[J@ffa]

Do you have this option selected?

 

[mr.light]

Seriously folks. Is this just a pop up or is this an attempt to get me to load something nasty onto my computer?

pop ups are turned off.

 

[superleccy]

Hmm. Am I in the wrong Forum for this?

Not necessarily... but you might want to wait more than 6 minutes.

Don't know exactly what evil technology is controlling Safari here, but I would suggest two things:

1) Stop visiting the site. Any site evil or stupid enough to try this trick is unlikely to have any useful information. Go surf somewhere else.

2) You're safe anyway. The evil malware it's trying to get you to install will be for the Windows masses, not us Mac elite.

SL

EDIT: Try disabling Javascript.

 

[mr.light]

I don't go to that page. it takes me there.
It was either LoopRumors or Macbytes.com

The web page it opens has Mac OSX options. Otherwise I would have just laughed it off.

 

[superleccy]

I don't go to that page. it takes me there.
It was either LoopRumors or Macbytes.com

Neither pose an issue for me. But it's possibly some malicious code in an advert on one of those pages. If so then someone might notice and fix it soon enough. I remember there was a similar incident on Amazon.co.uk a few months back.

The web page it opens has Mac OSX options. Otherwise I would have just laughed it off.

Ah, ok. You're still probably safe though. If this is successful OS X malware-in-the-wild then it'd only be the 2nd or 3rd time I've ever heard of it - ever.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Yep, get that about once a week.

A PITA to get rid off.

 

[mr.light]

I think I will keep a closer eye on which of these sites I was visiting next time this happens (if it happens). It was very disconcerting. Most concerning was the need to force quit just to get out. Hopefully it is nothing.

 

[mr.light]

Yep, get that about once a week.

A PITA to get rid off.

So it's just a PITA that does no real damage? Good to hear.
I double checked my fire wall settings and found it was off. Turned it on and triggered the site again (going through History) and this time it didn't take over. It didn't read my system this time either.

Panic over now. I feel much better.