Mac Security Questions

[JamesMay82]

Hi Guys,

I've just installed Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and its flagged up the below issues.

TeslaCrypt.2.GEN - 8 of these have been found originating from my Gmail Spam folder
MAC.OSX.Spigot.1 - 1 of these in my Applicationsupport/Appcommon/apprequest folder

My questions are

1. I thought OSX was suppose to scan for malware like the Spigot listed above?
2. Mac Mail has moved those Gmail messages to spam does that mean they were quarantined already before bit defender did the scan? i.e. if I had emptied my spam folder before I did the scan would these not have shown up or would it be system wide?

Thanks

 

[Gav2k]

1, OS X does but it can't stop you being stupid

2, yes it's isolated them. Empty spam and it'll be gone.

 

[richard2]

1. Spigot is classed as potentially unwanted, not malicious. OS X only scans for malicious software.

2a. G-mail, not Mail, sorted the messages into the Spam folder because it determined they were unsolicited or contained harmful content.

2b. It depends on how you empty the Spam/Junk folder. In Mail, deleting messages from the Junk folder moves them to the Trash folder; however, the "empty folder" function of G-mail/Inbox permanently deletes the whole contents of the folder.

 

[satcomer]

Silly child you went to nefarious sites and got some Trojans! Then you PAID for Windows scam artists and not to the donation ware MailwareBytes.

Plus if you really are paranoid then look at the shareware Little Snitch!

 

[JamesMay82]

Thanks for the advice!

I just installed it on a whim to be honest, it was reviewed by tech sites as being the best one out there and its only on the free trial mode.

The fact its not found anything to nasty shows the mac does a pretty good job. Most of it seemed to be linked to junk mail anyways.

@richard2 Do you use a virus/malware scanner at all? i'm thinking I might it give a miss. I've just turned on my mac firewall as well so would like to think i'm fairly safe. touch wood!

 

[richard2]

@richard2 Do you use a virus/malware scanner at all? i'm thinking I might it give a miss. I've just turned on my mac firewall as well so would like to think i'm fairly safe. touch wood!

I only use Malwarebytes Anti-malware (which is free) to occasionally scan my Mac; although, I'm quite knowledgeable of computer security and can therefore spot suspicious activity from a mile away. In my opinion, the average Mac user doesn't need to use security software provided they don't open files from untrustworthy sources.

 

[satcomer]

Thanks for the advice!

I just installed it on a whim to be honest, it was reviewed by tech sites as being the best one out there and its only on the free trial mode.

The fact its not found anything to nasty shows the mac does a pretty good job. Most of it seemed to be linked to junk mail anyways.

@richard2 Do you use a virus/malware scanner at all? i'm thinking I might it give a miss. I've just turned on my mac firewall as well so would like to think i'm fairly safe. touch wood!

Plus just use smart DNS like OpenDNS.com. If you go for the $19/year plane you get to block "Known" Trojan hosting sites verified by PhishTank.com.