Official antivirus, malware, and firewall FAQ

[McBie]

I have always questioned where the number 600000 came from and who would have an interest in understanding the level of success of this flashback thingy ....
Maybe this is an ( early ) indication.

Apple asks to shut domain belonging to Flashback researcher ‘Dr. Web’ – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home

btw..... this works both ways ..... for one company it is about the interest in the success rate, for the other it is about visibility/reputation.

Cheers ... McBie

[Chuckoir]

Could be a complete coincidence, and I'm probably playing Devil's Advocate, but if you look at the graphic that was included in the Sky News article, there's no mention of Russia (or China for that matter)...

[Randy B. Singer]

Flashback checker (will not remove Flashback if found) (OS X 10.5 or above only)
https://github.com/jils/FlashbackChecker/wiki

Free removal tool
Info:
Press Releases | Kaspersky Lab United States
or
Kaspersky Lab Offers
Download:
http://support.kaspersky.com/downloa...moval_tool.zip

[vansmith]

Could be a complete coincidence, and I'm probably playing Devil's Advocate, but if you look at the graphic that was included in the Sky News article, there's no mention of Russia (or China for that matter)...

Well, if I did the math correctly, the countries there account for 98.5% of the infections. So, even if you do include China and Russia, they would be responsible for no greater than 1.5% of the infections.

(Go Canada! Silver medal! )

[McBie]

... (Go Canada! Silver medal! )

I was thinking along those lines looking at Belgium.... our neighbors are all on the list, so we are very fortunate to be ringfenced, almost like a wall ..... a f***wall

Sorry ... couldn't resist.

Cheers ... McBie

[Mylife]

I wanted to make that a little larger to emphasize it.

The open safe files security hole (I can't call it a feature) was a terrible design decision. If you're using Safari, unchecking it should be the next thing you do.

Thanks just did that. Anything else I need to do in internet preferences or system preferences for that matter?


The paranoia is getting to me and I am looking into getting Intego X6 software.

[vansmith]

Don't be paranoid - that's unproductive and will make your experience considerably less enjoyable. Exercise vigilance and heed the advice & warnings that you get from the Mac community as a whole. Combine that with some common sense when browsing the web and you should be fine.

As for anything else to do, you might want to disable Java (unless you need it for something you do on a regular basis). You can do that by going to Safari > Security (don't confuse Java with Javascript - they are two very different things). If you use multiple browsers, you can disable the plugin system wide by going to /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.app and unchecking "Enable applet plug-in and Web Start applications."

I suggest this since Java is not only largely irrelevant on the client side these days but Apple seems to care little about Java. In this instance, a patch was released for the exploit used here back in February (source) but Apple only patched it when the trojan started taking advantage of Apple's lack of concern for patching Java with any speed (this goes back to what I was saying earlier in this thread about Apple's sometimes problematic lack of concern for patching products with any speed). I really wish Oracle would speed up the process of regaining control over the Java releases.

[Mylife]

As for anything else to do, you might want to disable Java (unless you need it for something you do on a regular basis). You can do that by going to Safari > Security (don't confuse Java with Javascript - they are two very different things). If you use multiple browsers, you can disable the plugin system wide by going to /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.app and unchecking "Enable applet plug-in and Web Start applications."

When I click on Java Preferences it says I need a Java runtime, Install now? What is this?

[vansmith]

If it says you don't have a Java runtime installed, you won't have this problem. It's hard for something to affect you if you don't have it.

[Mylife]

If it says you don't have a Java runtime installed, you won't have this problem. It's hard for something to affect you if you don't have it.

Got it... Step away from the install now button haha

[ZeroTX]

Apple working on software to remove the Flashback trojan | Technology News Blog - Yahoo! News

At some point there has to be recognition that there is no invulnerable operating system and that protection and vigilance has to take place, for all OS users.

[Pigstick]

Apple has released another update - Java for OS X Lion 2012-2013. They say:

This Java security update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware.

This update also configures the Java web plug-in to disable the automatic execution of Java applets. Users may re-enable automatic execution of Java applets using the Java Preferences application. If the Java web plug-in detects that no applets have been run for an extended period of time it will again disable Java applets.

Java for OS X Lion 2012-003 delivers Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_31 and supersedes all previous versions of Java for OS X Lion.

This update is recommended for all Mac users with Java installed.

Guess another update is a good idea...

[Randy B. Singer]

In addition to Apple's most recent Java update which can remove Flashback, Apple has just released a stand-alone Flashback Removal Tool:

Apple Flashback Removal Tool
Flashback malware removal tool

[Perranoak]

... and I was finally about to take the plunge and buy a Mac!

I know, don't be paranoid. It's not paranoia about the malware but about Apple's very slow response.

[dtravis7]

... and I was finally about to take the plunge and buy a Mac!

I know, don't be paranoid. It's not paranoia about the malware but about Apple's very slow response.

I am a PC Tech. Every PC I get in here has more Malware than I can count. Go Linux I guess since you are afraid of Mac.