Help with Securing my Mac

Recently ALL of my information was used to try to open up a credit card on the other side of the U.S., this included my SSN which I rarely used. I have no clue if my information was found online, from my computer, or a corrupt person in an organization accessed my details. Now, I would like to take precautions to ensure no more of my data is obtained going forward. I am unaware if either of the two devices that I use(both macs) are at risk. I thought possibly a keylogger or other virus could have been used to obtain my information. What would be the best way to ensure that my mac is secure without clearing all of my important documents and applications. Is there a preferably free program that I can use to ensure that my mac is safe? Also in lieu of recent events I would consider paying for something reasonable. Thank you in advance for any support.
TLDR; Recommend an Anti-virus etc. that could help make sure that my mac is as clean as can be

bacrules said:

Recently ALL of my information was used to try to open up a credit card on the other side of the U.S., this included my SSN which I rarely used. I have no clue if my information was found online, from my computer, or a corrupt person in an organization accessed my details.

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Sorry to here this. Not knowing where this place got your info to do what was attempted makes things difficult to resolve. For example...if the info did not come from your computer...then we may be correcting an issue that does not exist.

There is also the possibility that this info got into the "bad guys" hands via responding to emails that looked legitimate...but in reality were not. If this were the case...no computer security measures would help if the user is actually being duped by an email & voluntarily providing the information.

bacrules said:

I am unaware if either of the two devices that I use(both macs) are at risk. I thought possibly a keylogger or other virus could have been used to obtain my information.

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Where would a key logger have come from...or who would have access to your computer to install it? It would not be a virus...since there are no Mac virus's in the wild.

bacrules said:

What would be the best way to ensure that my mac is secure without clearing all of my important documents and applications.

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Be VERY careful what programs you install (make sure they are from legitimate sources). Don't respond to emails asking for info...UNLESS...you absolutely know where the email is coming from.

bacrules said:

Is there a preferably free program that I can use to ensure that my mac is safe?

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Try downloading & using the free program called "Malwarebytes".

bacrules said:

Recommend an Anti-virus etc. that could help make sure that my mac is as clean as can be

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Don't need an anti-virus app...since there are no Mac virus's in the wild. Also...since you do not know how this info was obtained (or what device )...you might be solving issues on devices where there is no issue. How do you know someone wasn't simply looking over your shoulder & got this info. Or how do you know that this info wasn't obtained from a company database that was hacked into (read stories all the time how credit card, bank, website, etc. databases are hacked into).

- Nick

Thank you so much for the lengthy response, and I do feel safer after hearing about the "no viruses" part. I do think that it was likely a company hack or other slip of information. I am typically very safe with handling my information, and would not have replied to any spam or cheesy emails. I have always been cautious since playing Runescape when I was a lot younger. There were a lot of programs that people would download that would "assist with runescape", but instead were keyloggers or save password information. I know this may not be your expertise but do you think browsers could possibly be the issue. I use google docs predominantly, and occasionally firefox/safari. Possibly something was downloaded that could have been harmful.

This is an excellent reply and wow effective.
i have a real scare. I couldn't find my attachments/went to a microsoft"ACE. " he was so sweet. he couldn't open the "see all "page,
so he got a tech. He got a tech. who showed me a page that said there were 10 people using my machine from Nigeria. He said not to throw out my computer. For $ 2000 then slashed out to 1000. So i looked on web for trojans and it said aleuron. etc i looked it up, thought I was a tech, tried to remove it and am admitting defeat. but not continual cuz people here know.

I am a 68 , stage 4 lung cancer. I need to know if my mac mini is cool, and it has a dead ipad. i was presented with an ipd2,bigger,good case but i don't want to install if it can be infected.
Thanks four prospected help.
barb mmann

Again Barb download Malwarebytes for Mac from the link and run that over the computer. 'Sweet' or not, he was a criminal attempting to extract money from you. The 'page' he showed you was no doubt one of the pages designed by him to 'prove' his allegations.

I would suggest strongly not taking anything from this gang, or letting them have access to your computer. Not knowing the operating version on your Mini, do you have the original discs if it is older, or a bootable thumb drive is the operating system is newer, and have conversant are you at wiping the hard drive and doing a clean install?


https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

Thank you so much. I really appreciate people in the world like you who support and can help others.
Fear isn't real, danger is. no fear now.