New Mac Ransomware: For all the Mac users to be aware of. New Mac Ransomware...

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

For all the Mac users to be aware of.

New Mac Ransomware

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

BBurns wrote:

For all the Mac users to be aware of.

New Mac Ransomware

Just curious.
I have always heard Mac users brag over and over about how Macs are immune to this sort of stuff and only Windows schlubs get attacked.
Is this warning a joke?

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

In the past there were not enough Macs to make a target out of.
There are many more out there now, some in high places in the graphics art, publishing and photography world.
I guess there will always be some a..hole who will try to cash in on it.
I would imagine Apple is on top of this like flies on stink.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

BBurns wrote:

For all the Mac users to be aware of.

New Mac Ransomware

From the link:

"For your Mac to become infected, you would need to torrent a compromised installer and then dismiss a series of warnings from Apple in order to run it. "

And there it is. The average user being mindful of warnings will not be infected.

aikiboy

Actually, attacks on Macs are now about as common as on Windows PCs, or so I have recently read. That said, the first thing I did with my new MacBook Pro was put in the Norton antivirus.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Architect1776 wrote:

Just curious.
I have always heard Mac users brag over and over about how Macs are immune to this sort of stuff and only Windows schlubs get attacked.
Is this warning a joke?

There is a huge difference between running a Mac with no anti-malware and running a Windows box with no anti-malware. A Windows box with no anti-malware, placed outside our corporate firewall as a “Honey pot” device, was typically attacked in under a minute.

In 30+ years of owning and supporting Macs without anti-malware, I had exactly one infection — a 1998 MS Word macro virus sent to me by our president’s secretary, who infected every computer with Word!

I now use McAfee anti-malware, mostly because Spectrum provides it to home customers at no charge. It scans the drives frequently.

But I’ve always kept our Mac’s OS firewall on. We run in “Stealth mode” most of the time. The router has a strong firewall and strong password. The drives are encrypted. Each user has a separate profile with a secure password... and we don’t click on suspicious links in emails or download software from shady sites.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

JD750 wrote:

From the link:

"For your Mac to become infected, you would need to torrent a compromised installer and then dismiss a series of warnings from Apple in order to run it. "

And there it is. The average user being mindful of warnings will not be infected.

Unsafe sex and unsafe computing have a lot in common...

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

burkphoto wrote:

There is a huge difference between running a Mac w... (show quote)

But disk encryption across all operating systems (including Linux) is only pertinent when the drive isn't mounted (e.g. before system boot). This isn't to say that MacOS has a significant edge over Windows in regards to security, but users have to understand that encryption isn't just a magic word that makes everything bullet proof.

This one is a little over the top, but "could" happen - If one gains escalated privileges such as root or administrator, on either system, individual profiles are pretty easy to enumerate and therefore the data is easy to grab.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

aikiboy wrote:

Actually, attacks on Macs are now about as common as on Windows PCs, or so I have recently read. That said, the first thing I did with my new MacBook Pro was put in the Norton antivirus.

Actually that is not necessary. One of the BIG advantages of the Mac is you don't have to run that virus crap UNLESS you have windows on your mac. THEN you need to run all that virus crapware (it saps CPU power and causes problems.) But if you don't have Windows on it, the get rid of all that and let the Mac be the Mac, and enjoy the advantages of owning a Mac.

-Mac user since 2005.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

burkphoto wrote:

Unsafe sex and unsafe computing have a lot in common...

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

JD750 wrote:

Actually that is not necessary. One of the BIG advantages of the Mac is you don't have to run that virus crap UNLESS you have windows on your mac. THEN you need to run all that virus crapware (it saps CPU power and causes problems.) But if you don't have Windows on it, the get rid of all that and let the Mac be the Mac, and enjoy the advantages of owning a Mac.

-Mac user since 2005.

Except when malware is written for MacOS and users are tricked into running it

I've never touched a Mac, but if it's anything like linux, you have to provide a sudo or root password to execute or install anything new.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

johngault007 wrote:

Except when malware is written for MacOS and users are tricked into running it

I've never touched a Mac, but if it's anything like linux, you have to provide a sudo or root password to execute or install anything new.

If you are the type to let yourself be tricked into things like Downloading malware then the internet is not going to be your friend. Best avoid the internet all together lest you get tricked into giving your bank account number to some stranger who tricks you.

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

Architect1776 wrote:

Just curious.
I have always heard Mac users brag over and over about how Macs are immune to this sort of stuff and only Windows schlubs get attacked.
Is this warning a joke?

Actually, no. I was caught by one.
Seems that our NSA has been illustriously active in this manner, in it's frenzy for secret back doors.
MOST ransom ware out there is a derivative of a few discovered NSA hacks.
It HAS been discovered that the NSA installed a backdoor in the code for various Mac firmwares.
Most of which was surreptitiously removed by Apple during it's upgrades and updates.
Tho I, and others, avoided that process to allow us to do things like run Yosemite on a 1,1 flashed to 2,1.
Which meant that I had a secret government backdoor on my Macpro. That only the NSA and other bad guys even knew it was routinely installed, or even existed. And so I received the "docx" infection.
MAYbe if i knew of it I could have updated and been secure. But I did not have a "need to know" status.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

JD750 wrote:

If you are the type to let yourself be tricked into things like Downloading malware then the internet is not going to be your friend. Best avoid the internet all together lest you get tricked into giving your bank account number to some stranger who tricks you.

I'm not that type for sure. I work in network security and offensive cyber development.

But, there are very creative bad people out there and use social engineering to "trick" people with very sophisticated attacks.

If you are ever bored enough to see it in action, read up on the Ukrainian SCADA attacks using BlackEnergy3.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Harry0 wrote:

Actually, no. I was caught by one. br Seems that o... (show quote)