Stole My Address Book, Mailed From Me

[leons]

I am helping a friend who has a Macbook Pro at home. Yesterday, at her work email, she received a Spam/Fishing email from "herself". It was also sent to everyone in her Address Book that is on her Macbook at home.

Is it likely a malicious website comprimised her address book, or worse. Could she have a virus? Is there a free Antivirus that she could run.

 

[GGJstudios]

I am helping a friend who has a Macbook Pro at home. Yesterday, at her work email, she received a Spam/Fishing email from "herself". It was also sent to everyone in her Address Book that is on her Macbook at home.

No, her mail account was hacked or spoofed. It has nothing to do with what computer she has or what software is on it. The addresses that were spammed came from her mail account, not her computer or Address Book. Have her change her mail passwords to something complex.

Is it likely a malicious website comprimised her address book, or worse. Could she have a virus? Is there a free Antivirus that she could run.

It's not a virus, since no Mac OS X viruses exist. You don't need any 3rd party antivirus app to keep your Mac malware-free. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 10 years ago. You cannot infect your Mac simply by visiting a website, unzipping a file, opening an email attachment or joining a network. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which cannot infect your Mac unless you actively install them, and they can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

Mac Virus/Malware FAQ​

 

[MonkeyBrainz]

I am helping a friend who has a Macbook Pro at home. Yesterday, at her work email, she received a Spam/Fishing email from "herself". It was also sent to everyone in her Address Book that is on her Macbook at home.

Is it likely a malicious website comprimised her address book, or worse. Could she have a virus? Is there a free Antivirus that she could run.

She should change her e-mail password and probably change some security settings/questions.