Virus from 4chan?

[flimzy]

Hi all, first off thank you for your help guys. Second, So, being the curious 16 year old that I am, I was on 4chan and I was on the /f/ fourm or something its a flash fourm. me and my friend were laughing at the ridiculous adult flash vidoes that people posted on there. We clicked on a few of the files and it would open another tab and would instantly play the flash video on the new tab. Im just wondering if just openeing these tabs from the flash video can give me a virus? Im on a mac. Does anyone know what im talking about too? Like i click on it and it says 4.cdnchan or some crap i dont know? And it plays this flash video. im just a little worried now.

 

[powerstrokin]

You're fine.

I would, however, suggest you don't click on things you aren't familiar with just as a general precaution.

 

[chown33]

There are other precautions one can take, such as disabling Java in the Safari Preferences window.
(Note: disable Java; leave JavaScript enabled**).

Another is a plugin "barrier", such as ClicktoPlugin.
http://hoyois.github.io/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/
(Note: may be available from other sources. Search for it.)

Another one that comes to mind is to use a separate browser, or a separate user account for visiting places like 4chan. Disable all plugins in that browser or account; problem solved.

There may be other easily applied precautions. Those are just a few that come to mind.


** Java is to JavaScript as ham is to hamster.

 

[flimzy]

Virus on Mac Mini Mountain Lion 10.8

Ok so i may need to clarify about a question I asked previously. I was on 4 chan with my friend and we were being silly and looking at the flash fourm. There was one link that had a cartoon adult flash video. I clicked on the link and it was a .swf or something like that. I clicked on a few. But now im worried that these links I clicked on could cause a virus on my mac. Im so worried now, do you think this is possible. they were real flash videos but still.

 

[satcomer]

You should stay off 4Chan!!!

Plus OS X doesn't get Virus. They only have Trojans that ignorant users click on something that is carrying this Trojan.

You should as if you need to use something free caled ClamxAV and let it scan your system.

Also start using OpenDNS. To see if operation look at their instructional video:

Then you can set it to block known trojan hosting sites. This way you can avoid most of them.

 

[flimzy]

thanks for your advice. Im still worried tho. the file was a .swf file. and i clicked on the link and it was and adult flash video. im just worried i got infected badly or something and my mac is now ruined.

 

[oldhifi]

And use Safari...

 

[GGJstudios]

Ok so i may need to clarify about a question I asked previously. I was on 4 chan with my friend and we were being silly and looking at the flash fourm. There was one link that had a cartoon adult flash video. I clicked on the link and it was a .swf or something like that. I clicked on a few. But now im worried that these links I clicked on could cause a virus on my mac. Im so worried now, do you think this is possible. they were real flash videos but still.

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 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.

​

Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.

thanks for your advice. Im still worried tho. the file was a .swf file. and i clicked on the link and it was and adult flash video. im just worried i got infected badly or something and my mac is now ruined.

That's a Flash video file. It cannot harm your Mac.

 

[flimzy]

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 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.

​

Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.



That's a Flash video file. It cannot harm your Mac.

Thank you so much. I know its a flash video file, however on a site like 4chan, and on the flash board, couldnt a .swf file that someone anomously posted, especailly an adult one have been a virus/trojan when i clicked it? Im jsut worried about that

EDIT: I was unfortunatley using firefox as a browser.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thank you so much. I know its a flash video file, however on a site like 4chan, and on the flash board, couldnt a .swf file that someone anomously posted, especailly an adult one have been a virus/trojan when i clicked it? Im jsut worried about that

There are no OS X viruses in the wild, and there never has been any. There is no OS X malware in the wild that can infect your Mac by you playing a .swf video. There is absolutely no reason for you to worry.

 

[flimzy]

There are no OS X viruses in the wild, and there never has been any. There is no OS X malware in the wild that can infect your Mac by you playing a .swf video. There is absolutely no reason for you to worry.

thank you. should i use safari as a browser, because i was using firefox and my java was on so i hope that didnt exploit me or anything.

 

[GGJstudios]

thank you. should i use safari as a browser, because i was using firefox and my java was on so i hope that didnt exploit me or anything.

Safari is fine, as long as you practice safe computing. Read my earlier post, including the links, for details.

 

[flimzy]

suspicious .swf file

A few weeks ago i posted a topic regarding a swf flash link that i clicked on that was an adult graphic. It was from 4chan. I got a great answer but I just realized that I had been browsing the whole time with Java enabled. I just disabled java right now. I didn't realize it was enabled. Could clicking on those two swf links have caused a problem for me? just a little worried. On a side note, yesterday my mouse lost connection, and i couldn't get it to startup with new batteries, so i force shutdown my mac twice to see if it would reboot, but i finally got the mouse to work. Is shutting down my mac twice bad for it? It took like 2 min to load up this morning. Im just a little worried now. Thanks!!

 

[AcesHigh87]

A few weeks ago i posted a topic regarding a swf flash link that i clicked on that was an adult graphic. It was from 4chan. I got a great answer but I just realized that I had been browsing the whole time with Java enabled. I just disabled java right now. I didn't realize it was enabled. Could clicking on those two swf links have caused a problem for me? just a little worried. On a side note, yesterday my mouse lost connection, and i couldn't get it to startup with new batteries, so i force shutdown my mac twice to see if it would reboot, but i finally got the mouse to work. Is shutting down my mac twice bad for it? It took like 2 min to load up this morning. Im just a little worried now. Thanks!!

Force shutting down any computer isn’t GOOD for it, mac or otherwise, but it won’t do any major damage as long as it wasn’t writing anything major to the HDD. Don’t make a habit of it if possible but don’t worry too much. Just make sure to exhaust other options before force shutting down your system.

As for the swf, I’m sure you’re fine. An swf is simply a flash video file. It can’t do anything to you. It’s no different than say a youtube video. It’s just content wrapped into a flash wrapper. Is there anything specific you’re worried about?

As for your mouse, what is it running through? Bluetooth, wireless transmitted to USB, etc? I know my iMac tends to turn its bluetooth off by itself on occasion so my Magic Mouse, Trackpad and Keyboard all refuse to function. I keep a USB mouse around just in case for these situations.

 

[flimzy]

Force shutting down any computer isn’t GOOD for it, mac or otherwise, but it won’t do any major damage as long as it wasn’t writing anything major to the HDD. Don’t make a habit of it if possible but don’t worry too much. Just make sure to exhaust other options before force shutting down your system.

As for the swf, I’m sure you’re fine. An swf is simply a flash video file. It can’t do anything to you. It’s no different than say a youtube video. It’s just content wrapped into a flash wrapper. Is there anything specific you’re worried about?

As for your mouse, what is it running through? Bluetooth, wireless transmitted to USB, etc? I know my iMac tends to turn its bluetooth off by itself on occasion so my Magic Mouse, Trackpad and Keyboard all refuse to function. I keep a USB mouse around just in case for these situations.

bluetooth, however i found batteries that worked for it haha. I was worried that clicking on that swf link could have gave me a trojan or some java exploit. Because it was from 4chan and at the time i had java enabled.

edit: just to be clear i can disable java from security preferences > java > security, right?

 

[AcesHigh87]

bluetooth, however i found batteries that worked for it haha. I was worried that clicking on that swf link could have gave me a trojan or some java exploit. Because it was from 4chan and at the time i had java enabled.

You’re not gonna get a virus, trojan or otherwise, on mac because they don’t exist. Even the little bit of malware that exists for mac needs express permission to install itself because of how OS X works. Unless you put your password in to install something you didn’t want / trust you’ll have no problem.

 

[flimzy]

You’re not gonna get a virus, trojan or otherwise, on mac because they don’t exist. Even the little bit of malware that exists for mac needs express permission to install itself because of how OS X works. Unless you put your password in to install something you didn’t want / trust you’ll have no problem.

thank you

 

[GGJstudios]

You’re not gonna get a virus, trojan or otherwise, on mac because they don’t exist.

That's not true. While there are no OS X viruses in the wild, there are Trojans. However, no OS X Trojan in the wild can infect a Mac simply by clicking on a .swf file, as was already explained to the 0P in a previous thread on this topic.

Even the little bit of malware that exists for mac needs express permission to install itself because of how OS X works. Unless you put your password in to install something you didn’t want / trust you’ll have no problem.

That's not true either. There are Trojans that can install without the admin password being required. Fortunately, all of these can be avoided by practicing safe computing.

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 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.

​

Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.