New MacBook Pro Hacked?

I have a brand new MacBook Pro...and not new to macsThis week my credit card saw suspicous activity and called me/locked my acct. In checking there was a false email that had attempted to use my card at mail.com. They had gotten the name of the person placing the order(which happened to be my son) and my entire credit card number, attempting to make this purchase. A few days prior I placed an order at a ligit company that has since shipped my purchase. I have read not to bother with any spyware..that macs are pretty immune? Does anyone have a suggestion.... Thankyou!

dawnelaine said:

I have a brand new MacBook Pro...and not new to macsThis week my credit card saw suspicous activity and called me/locked my acct. In checking there was a false email that had attempted to use my card at mail.com. They had gotten the name of the person placing the order(which happened to be my son) and my entire credit card number, attempting to make this purchase. A few days prior I placed an order at a ligit company that has since shipped my purchase. I have read not to bother with any spyware..that macs are pretty immune? Does anyone have a suggestion.... Thankyou!

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Is there a question here? I'm confused as to the point behind this post. You figured out who was using your credit card.

And yes, there is no spyware / viruses for Macs.

A few days after the order was processed, the exact information was hacked in to with a ficticious email attempting to use my credit card and my son's name. Mac support mentioned "keylogging". Will some kind of spyware prevent this? The fact that my son is even mentioned is to explain that the hacker dittoed my order information that just happened to come in the mail in his name. This is not a family matter, it is directly connected with my information being obtained and hacked in to so please pass on any suggestions as to hacking and keylogging. Thankyou.

dawnelaine said:

A few days after the order was processed, the exact information was hacked into with a ficticious email attempting to use my credit card and my son's name. Mac support mentioned "keylogging". Will some kind of spyware prevent this?

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It's possible that someone installed a keylogger, but they would have needed physical access to your machine. Have you let anyone else use it recently?

To be quite honest, I'd tend to believe that someone used a brute force attack on your email account. This is quite common. Were you using a complex password?

CWA 7,
I appreciate your suggestion. The only one who's really had access to my computer (physically) has been the cable company who recently brought me a faster modem. They had to come back three times to get it right..therefore, there were three different guys who had access to my computer. That would be all, I've only had it a month or so.

Thanks for posting back with the additional information. Your first post was confusing as it seemed as though your son may have been at fault.

I tend to agree with cwa107 since in order to place a key logger on your machine someone would have had to have access to it. It's more likely that your email account was hacked. It's possible they got your son's name from your address book on line.

I would immediately close out that email account with your ISP and open a new one using a strong password.

EDIT: If you have any reason to be suspicious of the cable workers, you can always erase the hard drive and reinstall Snow Leopard. I know that would be a rather drastic approach, but if it will ease your mind....

chscag,
Thanks. My son is not in my address book. We had the order shipped in his name, though using my credit card. The same week I was swamped with about 70 emails all at once for a craigslist item...all scams. I will change my email address if you believe that to be the safest thing to do. So macs are not immune...I still love them no matter!

dawnelaine said:

chscag,
Thanks. My son is not in my address book. We had the order shipped in his name, though using my credit card. The same week I was swamped with about 70 emails all at once for a craigslist item...all scams. I will change my email address if you believe that to be the safest thing to do. So macs are not immune...I still love them no matter!

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It wasn't the fault of your Mac. It was your email account that got hacked which would have and could have happened if you were using Windows or Linux. It just so happened you were using Mac OS X.

It sounds like you're also getting a lot of SPAM mail. Changing your email account should relieve most of that. Also when using internet ordering such as from Amazon, NewEgg, or any others, never allow them to store your credit card info on line. Always remove that and any other sensitive information about yourself or the family.

And... Welcome to the Mac Forums. If we can be of assistance in the future, don't hesitate to ask.

I've learned something through the process and feel better informed through this forum. I'll take care of my email and keep forms cleared out. Thankyou very much!

dawnelaine said:

I've learned something through the process and feel better informed through this forum. I'll take care of my email and keep forms cleared out. Thankyou very much!

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The most important thing is that you learn to use STRONG passwords.

This means passwords with changes in case and mixed with numbers and special characters like #$%^&^(). Weak passwords are thing like the names of your family members.

One extra thing that I would like to add to this discussion is to make sure that your Firewall is turned ON in system settings. If you don't know it is in the Security prefpane of System Settings. By default it is off.

Agreed. Your Mac was not hacked. With all that spam, it sounds like someone hacked into your email account either from home or from somewhere else. It happens all the time, on Facebook, on AIM. Just change to a stronger password and for extra security, create a new, separate user account on your Mac for your son and everyone else who uses it. Everyone should have their own user account so they can only fiddle with their own settings and not yours.

After recently having some personal info stolen and attempted to use, I've narrowed my research down to the possibility of a keylogger virus on my new MacBook Pro.
What is the best way to handle this situation? Someone suggested that I reboot, so I bought an external hard drive and I'm ready. Won't the keylogger end up backed up, too on the external drive and be installed right back on..so do I get rid of it first..and how?

Why start a new thread on the same subject?
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-notebooks/222318-new-macbook-pro-hacked.html

6string,
Obviously my issue is still not resolved...hence back to the forum. Isn't that what it's for?
Thankyou.

Yes, that's what the forum is here for, but why start a new thread, rather than continuing in the thread that you'd started about the same issue?
This only confuses things!

1. There are no Mac OS X viruses.

2. Format the hard drive, zeroing if necessary, partition and do a clean install. And do not back up from the external as you will simply re-install any keylogger program that may be there.

3. Keep your son away from your Mac period if he can't be trusted.

@dawnelaine

Please do not start a new thread. Continue posting to your original thread otherwise we'll have posts and replies scattered all over. Confuses everyone. I merged your latest post to your original thread. Thanks for your cooperation.

dawnelaine said:

I have a brand new MacBook Pro...and not new to macsThis week my credit card saw suspicous activity and called me/locked my acct. In checking there was a false email that had attempted to use my card at mail.com. They had gotten the name of the person placing the order(which happened to be my son) and my entire credit card number, attempting to make this purchase. A few days prior I placed an order at a ligit company that has since shipped my purchase. I have read not to bother with any spyware..that macs are pretty immune? Does anyone have a suggestion.... Thankyou!

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Many member ask the question about viruses and malware on the Mac and in addition to using the search function at the top of the forum, you'll find almost all your answers here:

Official Antivirus, Malware, and Firewall FAQ

s2odin said:

IAnd yes, there is no spyware / viruses for Macs.

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There is spyware for Mac, your statement is not correct. The only difference is it can't be installed by just visiting a website, it would require the admin to put in their password.