There has been lots of news floating around the interwebs recently about a Mac targeted malware attack called Mac Defender. At first Apple refused to recognize it existed, then say it will be patched in an update. The severity of it was debatable, but one thing was known, it was relatively low risk because you had to enter the administrator password to install it. That has now changed.
Security firm Intego is reporting that there is a new Mac Defender variant called Mac Guard that is out in the wild. Intego wrote on its blog “Unlike the previous variants of this fake antivirus, no administrator’s password is required to install program.”
According to Intego it is advisable to turn off “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading” in Safari preferences.
While Apple has acknowledged that a software update will automatically removed the malware you can only hope that Apple will include this and other variants to the removal list.
This seems like it could be the beginning for Mac users facing malware. It’s starting small, but as the MacOS grow in marketshare it’s only going to get worse. So remember to use common sense and stay protected.
Source: Ars Technica
Sounds like a decent enough scam. Freak out all the noobs using the moniker “Mac Defender” then after everyone has that engrained in their heads, release news malware that offers to “remove” Mac Defender under a different name. It’s a simple spoof to fool even lightly ignorant Mac users.
Exactly. And Mac users need to get off their “Macs Don’t Get Viruses” high horse, the more popular Macs become, the more likely more severe malware and viruses will come. And the sooner that is recognized the sooner users can be more prepared. A lot of people that I know that have Mac simply don’t have any protection software and that’s dangerous. I see this whole Mac Defender thing as a precursor.
Mac Users: We don’t need virus protection, we can’t get viruses
Virus maker: They’re unprotected, lets get them infected.