Safari virus

[paultilling]

My Safari has just got infected with a virus, giving a green & orange page from aszbazzv.nextinovationcenter.net demanding payment of £100. It accuses me of accessing 'banned pornography' and threatens to convict me in a criminal action by the UN unless I pay up! Has anyone any experience of this and any advice please? It effectively blocks Safari use most of the time.
Many thanks in advance. Macbook Air Mountain Lion

 

[bobtomay]

It is not a virus.

It is a browser hijacker trying to scam you out of your money.

If you are using wifi:
click on the Network icon up on the menu bar and on 'Turn Wi-fi off'.
Open Safari and close the tabs.
Quit Safari by clicking on Safari in the menu bar and then 'Quit Safari'.
You can now safely Turn the wifi back on and open Safari.

If you are using ethernet, unplug the ethernet cable and do the same as above.

Don't go back to the web site that is infected with that pop-up again.

No point advertising that website - mods may want to remove the link.

 

[hempomatic]

it accuses me of accessing 'banned pornography' and threatens to convict me in a criminal action by the un unless i pay up! Has anyone any experience of this and any advice please?

don't pay them ! ;p

 

[paultilling]

Thanks very much for your very rapid response bobtomay, wow so simple! I thought I was going to have to re-install the system or something! I'm so grateful. And no I wasn't going to pay anybody!

 

[lclev]

I would add to what bobtomay said. Install Adblock Plus and Ghostry as extensions to safari. That will help prevent it from happening again.

https://adblockplus.org

https://www.ghostery.com/en/download

Lisa

 

[RadDave]

Thanks very much for your very rapid response bobtomay, wow so simple! I thought I was going to have to re-install the system or something! I'm so grateful. And no I wasn't going to pay anybody!

Hello and glad that all went well - if not already done, you might want to take a look at the Safe Mac website; plenty of information on malware that would be of interest - also, might want to look at their related website Adware Medic - Dave

 

[johnodd4]

you can also block it manually through editing the safari plist theres a great tutorial on youtube on how to do this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91vJbwPeZWM its a older video from snow leopard but still works on maverick and yosemite

 

[pm-r]

It is not a virus.

It is a browser hijacker trying to scam you out of your money.

If you are using wifi:
click on the Network icon up on the menu bar and on 'Turn Wi-fi off'.
Open Safari and close the tabs.
Quit Safari by clicking on Safari in the menu bar and then 'Quit Safari'.
You can now safely Turn the wifi back on and open Safari.

If you are using ethernet, unplug the ethernet cable and do the same as above.

Don't go back to the web site that is infected with that pop-up again.

No point advertising that website - mods may want to remove the link.

Just curious bobtomay, but is this method actually permanent if the OP has been infected somehow or some re-routing changes made to their OS X System or Safari?

I would have thought that something would still be lingering that might need to be removed and deleted.

 

[pm-r]

you can also block it manually through editing the safari plist theres a great tutorial on youtube on how to do this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91vJbwPeZWM its a older video from snow leopard but still works on maverick and yosemite

Actually that video is showing about modifying the hosts file, not any Safari plist, but I sure feel sorry for anyone trying to actually follow his instructions without messing up the hosts file completely.

 

[johnodd4]

i didn't say it was perfect but it does work because the web browsers are using the host files to inject sites into your web browser like mackeeper and others as well

 

[Slydude]

I certainly wouldn't advise most users to go poking around in the hosts file on a regular basis. For this problem that's a bit like taking a shotgun to a housefly. If you're not careful the time wasted cleaning up the mess you've created will be just as annoying as the malware.

 

[chscag]

+1. Don't mess with your hosts file at all. The simple way to block a bad site is to use the free (free for home use) Open DNS.