Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
My MBP had a trojan virus.
- Thread starter Leakyfawcet
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I get those pop-ups
ALERT!!! YOU"VE BEEN INFECTED BY A DANGEROUS VIRUS!!
CLICK THIS LINK FOR HELP!!
I can't say where that goes because I ain't stupid enough to click that link
They take to someone trying to steal your credit card info ... mostly, or con you into buying their crapware.
Uhhhh, you're not very knowledgeable on this topic, or you'd know there is not ONE virus that exists in the wild that runs on Mac OS X. Name ONE, and prove me wrong! I dare you!
Leap-A is NOT a virus. It's a trojan, and will only work on systems running Tiger, due to its use of Spotlight.
The only way you can get the Leap-A malware on your machine is if you take some action to put it there yourself. You might receive a file from a buddy in iChat, or download something from the Internet, or open an attachment to an e-mail message. The program code is presently hiding in what claims to be pictures of OS X 10.5, Apples next major OS X upgrade.
To get Leap-A on your machine, you must
(a) receive the file, which is compressed;
(b) expand the archive; and
(c) double-click what appears to be an image file to execute the code.
You cannot get the malware by simply browsing the Internet, reading e-mail, or chatting with friends in iChat.
this is what most probably happened,
1. A website displayed some popups which claim that your computer is infected.
2. You scan with ClamAV (which is useless for mac threats)
3. Clam detects some cookie or temporary info produced by the website and classifies it as a Fraudware trojan.
1. A website displayed some popups which claim that your computer is infected.
2. You scan with ClamAV (which is useless for mac threats)
3. Clam detects some cookie or temporary info produced by the website and classifies it as a Fraudware trojan.
You can reformat a computer when it gets infected. You can't reformat humans, unless you believe in reincarnation. Don't compare sex and computers.
Yeah people here will jump ALL over you if they even think you downloaded something from a torrent or something similar. I gave up trying to argue with them and don't mention anything close to it.
I really find that sticking to pure Mac stuff works best. If you ever have something like this again, I'd say you need to tell everyone that you downloaded a file from the companies servers upfront.
It's a shame people won't consider helping you even if you downloaded software...
He still uses an old power pc thats probably why he's scared of viruses, check the treads he's started, hell he's probably got a condom between his computer and the phone socket
Yeah but in this particular case where there is a confirmed trojan installer with a torrented version of Photoshop CS4 that information is very important. If that is what he had, we couldn't have pointed him to the specific fix he would have needed.
Oh yeah, Macs' can't get viruses. OS X/UNIX != Windows. You can't even sneeze outside your home directory on a *nix box without going SU first.
My posts are no where near judging anyone's morals, more like trying to figure out what the problem might be, and since there are trojans in torrents ...
Except that there is no virus for OSX. There is ZERO need for virus software for the Mac
-)
I really think the OP in this case just got spooked by an Ad or something. His story doesn't add up to what an infected Mac "might" look like.
Let's put it this way: No Major Virus Threats Exist for Mac. I have used Macs for nearly 20 years and I deal with P2P and Torrents and all the other shady stuff that came before it and have NEVER had a scare (well there was that one time on OS 7 & 8).
Don't scare the Noobs with your pedantic babble about "No Anti-Virus is like Driving without a Seatbelt. You're gonna Die!". You are propagating a non-worry.
Supposedly its not Photoshop that has the Trojan its the keygen/activation program. That's what asks for the admin password. So a clean version of CS4 makes sense, its the Mac keygen that's dirty.
Personally I know nothing about Mac virus software as I don't even have a mac yet but apparently the news stories have also inserted:
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/?s=52&gclid=CIr68eae2pgCFR8hnAodG2ZMcA
as a way to get rid of the trojan. Probably the trojan was created by virus software developers to get some Mac users on board.
Personally I know nothing about Mac virus software as I don't even have a mac yet but apparently the news stories have also inserted:
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/?s=52&gclid=CIr68eae2pgCFR8hnAodG2ZMcA
as a way to get rid of the trojan. Probably the trojan was created by virus software developers to get some Mac users on board.
This is going to sound a bit "preachy", and I apologize up front for that, but I think its important - somehow "smiley" faces probably wouldn't have helped the tone.
....
I know that it may appear to have gone off-topic, but in fact where you got the trojan is actually very important to the OS X community, potentially.
If you were downloading "shady" stuff, then its likely that you were infected with a known trojan, and would probably get a bit of a scolding from the community. And your remedy would have been fine, and we would have all forgotten it in a few days.
However, if you were downloading only legitimate stuff, then the fact you got a trojan could potentially show that there was a new threat to OS X that was not yet recognized widely. A threat that could potentially be damaging to Mac users as a whole.
Since OS X appears to be becoming more of a target now, it is important that we all help each stay vigilant.
Your initial post left it open to interpretation whether you were downloading legitimate material or not. So....
We can sound the all clear, and wipe our foreheads.
Which version of PhotoShop, and how are you liking it?
ROFL!!!
Sorry, I think this thread is nothing but non-sense.
IF (not say you are)
but IF... your downloading applications and tools from the net and using hacks and key-gens to produce a key, to activate your application, then you deserved everything you get.
In general, there are no Viruses or Trojans which can self install on a Mac without the user giving it permission to do so. So if your using any key-gens, then that's your likely source!!
Read a bit further down the first page, the guy says he downloaded legit of the Adobe website and does not use torrents.
.
skimreaders
I'd love to see a screenshot of the Safari Message that your computer is infected with a virus.
Did it look like this!!!
Did it look like this!!!
OMG!!! I was reading this thread and I got this VIRUS message on my screen!^
What do I do? Am I infected? How do I get rid of this Mac VIRUS??????
OMG!!! I was reading this thread and I got this VIRUS message on my screen!^
What do I do? Am I infected? How do I get rid of this Mac VIRUS??????
Well, its obviously infected beyond help.... so just send it to me, I won't mind....
really.... I would be happy to sacrifice myself and take that infected system off your hands.... I promptly deleted photoshop from my Mac. I didn't even get to use it. I didn't mean to start a flame war I was just in need of some advice.
Sure! I'll send it right away! Just hold your breath until it gets there....Well, its obviously infected beyond help.... so just send it to me, I won't mind....
My point is, you'll NEVER get a legitimate virus notification by just visiting a website. When you get a message that pops up, look to see which app it came from. If it came from your web browser, it's NOT legit! A website has no capability of scanning your system to see if you have a virus. If it came from an anti-virus program (I'm talking Windows here) that you know you have installed and is running, then it's probably legit. If it comes from ANY app and says you have a virus (not trojan) on your Mac OS X system, it's bogus! Most of these "scares" can be avoided with an ounce of common sense.
Don't worry about it. You didn't know.
This thread happens about once a week anyway. But seriously, rest assured. Your computer is OK, something or other tricked you into thinking you had a virus, but you do not. I promise you.
Go download Photoshop Trial and install and use it. I PROMISE you that nothing will go wrong. Slowly you'll forget about viruses the longer you use your Mac. And one day you'll be writing a reply to someone who's freakin' about a possible infection. Reassuring them that everything is ok.