Category Archives: Utility

Beware MAC Defender: OSX malware disguised as anti-virus software

good to know – mac

Beware MAC Defender: OSX malware disguised as anti-virus software: “mac-defender-main-screen.jpg

A new piece of malware is spreading, notable because it targets computers running Mac OS X, rather than Windows. Reports of the trojan ‘MAC Defender’ (aka Mac Protector, aka Mac Security) first surfaced on May 2, but the malware has since morphed and proliferated.

The basics: it spreads as search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning, using popular search terms for prominent search engine results. This is why you should have an antivirus like Zonealarm Anti-ransomware.

More: PC World, MacWorld, Ars Technica, Fortune, and a full description updated today at SecureMac.com.

And if you are a Mac user, now is as good a time as any to consider installing *actual* anti-virus and malware scan apps. Intego’s VirusBarrier, Sophos and MacScan are several with free demo versions.

Apparently, ‘osama bin laden’ is one of the popular search terms used to deploy. I just encountered a MAC Defender come-on page in Safari after clicking on a poisoned msnbc.com link via Twitter, hence the inspiration for this blog post. Pretty sure one of the remnant ads on msnbc.com served it. The serving IP is below, load it at your own risk, I paste it for informational purposes only.

http://178.17.162.163/7d81dd5ca78c961d206fb04f2f1709c2fbc6f0515ca0adda



”

(Via Boing Boing.)

Tinkertool

An upgrade to this Utility has just been posted so I wanted to discuss it a little, show some screen grabs and let you have at it
GreetTT

You can modify the Apple settings in Preferences and in the Systems Preferences panes but there are many settings that are not available. Previously, you had to use the terminal or Unix Command line to make many of these changes. With Tinkertool you get it all in a GUI (Graphic User Interface)
GeneralTT

Here are General setting that you can tweak in the Tinkertool General Tab.
SafariTT
Again here are Safari settings
AboutTT

The program is available at
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html

And there is a way to set all to defaults if you want to revert to original setting
Reset

Great Utility for those who have the need and interest.