And today it’s Apple Mac — again
I really, really have to stop looking at tech news…
* What’s behind backdoor #3? Mac version of Mokes malware follows Linux, Windows variants
“The malware is programmed to swipe data and images from a victim’s machine, including screenshots taken every 30 seconds, audio and video captures, documents and keystrokes..” Read more..
This crap is costing us trillions.. each and every year.
(That we know about.. and that’s the tip of the iceberg.)
Please don’t think you’re safe because you have an antivirus. No security program is bulletproof. You simply must constantly exercise “paranoid common sense”, and turn off all curiosity. The bad guys want you to click their links, so don’t click (when on the Internet) unless you’re certain it’s safe, and you need to go there. Don’t ‘download’ and install a program unless you’re certain you need it. I’ll go further: if you don’t know what the word “malware” is, 3/4ths through 2016, get off the Internet altogether.
- The telephone has gotten almost as bad. No you didn’t win a free cruise. No, the IRS is not about to “file criminal action”. No, they are not “conducting a quick survey”.. etc., etc..
* * *
Today’s quote: “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” ~ Jack Layton
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
If You Have An Android Phone, Read This
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has posted an article that all smart phone owners should be aware of, and Android owners should read very carefully. It contains a list of apps that have been poisoned to “root” your phone and steal all your info.. and maybe do more than that. Worse (scarier), these apps are on the app Marketplace. And, I may have downloaded one.
Stolen apps that root Android, steal data and open backdoors available for download from Google Market
“To many of its fans, the openness and freedoms offered by the Android mobile operating systems is one of its main selling points. But that openness come with a price – it makes it easy for nefarious types to sneak malware into apps. And that’s exactly what they are doing.”
I am going to provide his list of infected apps, but just because you don’t see one you recognize as having installed doesn’t mean you should skip reading his article (click here to read it). It contains info we all should know.
|
|
|
Toward the bottom of his article is a link to another of his articles, which describes what you need to know to keep your phone safer.
Again, this is important enough that I am asking you to read the article (click here to read it) and forward it to all your friends and family who own smart phones. Android, and Google’s app Marketplace are not the only targets of the cybercriminals. Apple’s store is no better off, and they do not vet their apps for malware.
Makes me glad I haven’t used my phone to check my balance…
Related: Study: Cybercrime cost firms $1 trillion globally (that would be in 2010..)
Data theft and breaches from cybercrime may have cost businesses as much as $1 trillion globally in lost intellectual property and expenditures for repairing the damage last year, according to a new study from McAfee.
Make no mistake: the Evil Doers are going after all Internet-connected devices.
It’s a brave new world.
How nice. Someone is trying to send me a free computer. I like free computers.
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
Do You Need AV on a Mac?
I get asked that from time to time. But usually, I’m not asked, I’m told. “I don’t need all that *crud*. I’m on a Mac.”
Usually, but not always, there’s a certain tone the speaker adopts when uttering that Standard Line (read, “dogma”) that conveys a smug superiority.. but, hey, everyone’s entitled to a little.. uh, delusion or two in my book. Keeps life interesting.
Basis in fact: There are some reasons for this don’t-need-an-antivirus belief system. One is, Apple itself has promoted the idea. Another is, there were hardly any (and at some points in history, no, zero, zip, nada) viruses / trojans / worms / etc. written to exploit the Mac OS. And even now, they’re considered “rare”.
Cyber-criminals (aka “hackers”) knew that less than 5% of computers were Macs, and essentially none of the “pots of gold” (database servers) were running the Mac OS.. so why write a attack program? (Apple products have been proven quite “hackable” – iTunes, QuickTime, Safari actually rank quite high on the list. See, Firefox More Secure? Tops ‘Most Vulnerable’ List) Answer– There’s basically nothing to attack with it.
Then and now: But, that was before Vista; and, the “I’m a Mac” series of television commercials. Now, instead of approximately 1-in-20 PC’s being Macs, it’s more like 1-in-10. Now, the idea of a all-Mac botnet has some merit (and a true Mac fan will tell you, all the Windows PC’s have already been taken!). An all-Mac botnet wouldn’t be all that big.. but the new numbers mean it’d be big enough for some uses…
So, sure enough, some enterprising criminal wrote a backdoor worm and glued it to a copy of iWork ’09 and posted it to several of the torrent sites, knowing that Mac-using folks who don’t like paying for things would download and install it.
Voilà, we got us an all-Mac botnet.
[note: this has happened before, to Mac+LimeWire² users; see, Firms discover Trojan horse targeted at Mac OS X]
Someone has named this worm “iServices.A”, which is much more rational and.. nicer (ahem) than what I might have named it. This worm allows the hacker to do pretty much what he wants with the infected machine, which so far appears to be sending boatloads of spam to specific URL’s, in what is called a “denial of service” attack (the flood of messages overloads the server, and causes it to ‘crash’/shutdown)(see, Our Modern Nightmare – Zombie Attack)
Me? I have consistently advised installing an AV, no matter what platform/OS you’re running, just as I consistently advise making backup copies of your files, (yes, I have been accused of being a bit of a “belt-and-suspenders” man) for one very simple reason — what is the cost if you do, versus what is the (potential) cost if you don’t?
Plus.. it’s simple math: the more popular Macs get, the more they’ll be targeted.
Feel free to disagree, but you won’t get me to change my mind. My Tiger machine has antivirus onboard.. though I don’t know why I bothered, I never turn the thing on.
Today’s free link(s):
* Brian Krebs has an absolutely great article detailing this worm, and I leave it to him to make what may be the most important point on the subject–
“Leaving aside (hopefully) the question of whether Mac users need anti-virus, I’ve tried to impress upon readers the importance of avoiding risky behaviors online that could jeopardize the security of their systems. The reality is that installing programs downloaded from P2P networks is about the most insecure practice a computer user can engage in,¹ regardless of the operating system in use.
This is why I think it’s important to call out this Trojan. Yes, it infects Macs, and that’s something we don’t see very often. But it’s also a teachable moment to remind readers that no security software is going to protect the user who is intent on installing software that may be tainted with malware, as long as that user is willing to ignore any advice (or alerts) to the contrary.
I highly recommend you read the whole article, Pirated iWork Software Infects Macs With Trojan Horse. Once you do, I think you’ll understand why he’s on my Blogroll.
* Blogroll member Bill Mullins posted an article that takes a look at the P2P “phenomenon” that I also highly recommend, Peer to Peer File Sharing – Evaluate the Risks – Consider the Trade-Offs
* And this article is a very good answer to the question, Is Mac still the safer bet?
¹ emphasis, mine.
² A very popular BitTorrent-style peer-to-peer program.
* One last thought.. anyone care to guess what percentage of people’s machines that I look at in my “real job” have LimeWire installed?
Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
| Share this post : |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
-
Say "thank you!" Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).
-
-
McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
-
Subscribe to Tech--for Everyone by EmailRecent Comments
-
-
-
-
Also:
-
-
Tech - for Everyone 