New Mac Malware

[Randy B. Singer]

There has been new malware released into the wild for the Macintosh this month. It's nothing to get really excited over, but one should still be careful:

In-the-wild Mac malware kept busy in June—here’s a rundown | Ars Technica

This is important:

Not uncommonly, malware based on a Web site will throw up a message (called a pop-up) telling you that you need to update Flash, in order to try and trick you into downloading malware. NEVER, EVER, heed such a message by downloading "Flash" from such a message.

There are only two ways that you should EVER update Flash:
1) Via the Flash Player pane (under the Updates tab) in System Preferences on your Mac
or
2) Directly from Adobe:
Adobe Flash Player Download

If you are wondering if you already have the latest version of Flash installed, you can check in the Flash preferences pane, or you can find out which version of Flash you currently have installed, and what the latest version is, here:
Adobe - Flash Player

There are folks who will tell you to simply uninstall Flash, but I find so many Web sites that still rely on Flash, I can't really recommend that. Just keep Flash updated, and only do so using the above instructions, and you should be golden.

 

[Rod]

Yes I second that, I wouldn't uninstall it. I think you'd find yourself reinstalling it fairly soon and perhaps from the wrong source. As per Randy's post above.


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[chscag]

And, if you're a Chrome user, Flash is already built in.

 

[IWT]

And, if you're a Chrome user, Flash is already built in.

A very good point.

I uninstalled Flash some time ago and, on those relatively rare occasions where only Flash will do, I open Chrome and view the content that way.

Ian

 

[nickyr]

I uninstalled Flash over a year ago and have never run into any issues browsing. I only look at a limited number of trusted sites though so that might be why I've never come across any problems.

 

[Rod]

Also in support of my view, I don't use Chrome so no built-in.


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[rachalmers]

Likewise. I won’t use Chrome or Opera, or Firefox. On the Mac and iOS only Safari. Chrome especially is way too dodgey! If malaware is trying to get in, Chrome will make it as easy as possible.
In addition to that, Chrome = Google = Android = extremely intrusive logging of everything you do.
But then you might be a subscriber to conspiracy theories and know this already hahaha!


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[chscag]

But then you might be a subscriber to conspiracy theories and know this already hahaha!

And let's not forget to place a piece of black tape over your webcam.

 

[rachalmers]

If you want to find out what Google and the others are up to, this is worth the effort. It’s an academic work, and not light reading. Nor is it conspiracy theory. The opposite probably.

(outdated link removed)

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[IWT]

If you want to find out what Google and the others are up to, this is worth the effort. It’s an academic work, and not light reading. Nor is it conspiracy theory. The opposite probably.

(outdated link removed)
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I have not the slightest doubt about the veracity and thought-provoking ethos of this book; but at just over 700 pages, it's a tough adventure. But then I came across a Resume of the book (37 pages); unfortunately in French.

The author is a Harvard Professor and she is highly acclaimed, but why is it that those who seek to educate need so many pages in order to put across their mandate?

Ian

 

[rachalmers]

I have not the slightest doubt about the veracity and thought-provoking ethos of this book; but at just over 700 pages, it's a tough adventure. But then I came across a Resume of the book (37 pages); unfortunately in French.

The author is a Harvard Professor and she is highly acclaimed, but why is it that those who seek to educate need so many pages in order to put across their mandate?

Ian

Interesting Ian, but I’m not sure this person is setting out to educate anyone. She presents the facts, and leaves it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. The underlying story is about economics in this modern technological age. So it’s interesting on at least those two fronts. Economics, and Information Technology’s development and use in the first aim.
From my point of view, economics and IT, I became interested in researching the various companies she mentions as examples. All of whom still exist and are doing very well. Including the company jointly owned by Google and the CIA. Right there and viewable on the internet.
Yea, interesting stuff.


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[Randy B. Singer]

Likewise. I won’t use Chrome or Opera, or Firefox. On the Mac and iOS only Safari. Chrome especially is way too dodgey! If malaware is trying to get in, Chrome will make it as easy as possible.
In addition to that, Chrome = Google = Android = extremely intrusive logging of everything you do.
But then you might be a subscriber to conspiracy theories and know this already hahaha!

No conspiracy theory necessary. Chrome is a really excellent browser. But Google makes their money by tracking you, aggregating information that they have assembled about you, and selling it to others for advertising purposes. They don't really try to hide that. It's why all of their cool services are free. You aren't the customer, you are the product.

However, the underlying code in Google's Chrome browser, called Chromium, is open source. That means anyone can use it for free. Several companies have taken the opportunity to modify that code so that Google's spyware is stripped out, and instead they've tailored the code to give you a browser for which security is a priority. (The opposite of Google Chrome.)

The three best examples are:

Brave (free)
Secure, Fast & Private Web Browser with Adblocker | Brave Browser

Vivaldi (free)
Vivaldi — The browser that puts you in control

Slimjet (free)
Fastest web browser that blocks all ads and protects your privacy - Slimjet

All three are excellent browsers. All three have better security than even Apple's Safari.