Some Mac Apps Now Come With Firmware, so Hone Your BS Detector
There is a popular belief that Mac does not have the same malware and malware problem as Windows. However, with the advent of the Mac over the past few years, this is no longer the case. Our friends at How-To Geek explain how OS X malware works and how to avoid it.
As with Windows, Mac adware typically comes from bogus links on search engines and “batch download” sites such as Download.com. One of your worst offenders? Fake VLC versions. Do a quick search in Bing or Yahoo (Google blocks malware results) for VLC and you will find many fake installers (as shown above) that install adware on your system. If you do come across any of these adware programs, it tends to hijack search engines in new tabs on your browser and home pages to display nasty support alerts in an attempt to get you to install even more adware.
Most of them stick with your browser as nasty old adware, but How-To Geek found that some can dig even deeper:
This more serious malware is installed as a daemon or service that runs in the background and behind the scenes. You can find these things in / Library / LaunchAgents or / Library / LaunchDaemons, which will have some really weird looking items that just don’t belong. This folder can also be used for real things from real applications, so don’t empty this folder completely or anything else.
Of course, as with Windows, you’ll have to jump over some hurdles to get these things installed, and any educated Mac user will find most of this software suspicious. However, since most people don’t think Mac has this problem, they can let their guard down.
To keep these things from getting onto your system (and your family and friends’ computers), make sure you can only download approved apps from the Mac App Store. Go to System Preferences> Security & Privacy and make sure the Allow Download Apps From field is set to Mac App Store and Authenticated Developers. Of course, if you absolutely need to download something from an unapproved developer, be sure to read the installer carefully and don’t settle for any other installations.
If you already have adware installed on your computer, we’ll love Adware Medic as a simple on-demand adware protection scanner to help you get rid of everything already on your system. The How-To Geek goes into great detail on how all of this adware and malware works, so check out their full post for more information.
Mac OS X is no longer secure: an outbreak of illegal and malware has begun | How-To Geek