Scareware/MacDefender

2011 MacDefender popped up in mid-2011. It mimicked the widely deployed and largely successful scareware scams that have been owning Windows machines for years. The phishing scam worked by redirecting Mac-users from legitimate websites to fake ones that attempted to convince users that their...

New Mac Malware Variants Found in Trojaned Apps Are Stealing Data

Researchers have discovered a series of variants of the DevilRobber Mac OS X Trojan that have a menu of different capabilities, depending upon the strain, and can not only mine Bitcoins using the infected machine’s processing power, but also steals files, installs a Web proxy and may steal the...

Back-and-Forth to Continue Between Macdefender and Apple

There is a serious game of back-and-forth going on between the security team over at Apple and the developers of the Macdefender malware. As reported by Threatpost, Apple deployed a patch to remedy the troubling fake AV, then shortly after that, the developers of Macdefender altered their methods...

Mac and Windows Malware Spreads Through Facebook Attack

A new attack on Facebook has been making the rounds this week, thanks in part to the social networking service’s ‘Like’ feature – and both Mac and Windows users are vulnerable. According to F-Secure’s News from the Lab blog, a Lithuanian server is dishing out the malware that appears to be...

Apple Releases Malware Detection Tool

Apple has released Security Update 2011-003 for Mac OS X in response to the recent Mac fake anti-virus software. This update: adds a malware definition to the File Quarantine application causes the File Quarantine application to automatically update its malware definition list daily removes...

Apple Adds Daily Malware Updates to OS X

Apple on Tuesday shipped the promised update to help remove the MacDefender malware, and in a surprise move, also added functionality to Mac OS X that will now check for new malware definitions daily. The move by Apple to add daily malware checks is a significant shift in the way that the company...

Dennis Fisher and Paul Roberts on the MacDefender Malware and Google Wallet

Dennis Fisher and Paul Roberts discuss the re-emergence of the MacDefender malware, Apple’s decision to push out an OS X update to protect against and the release of Google Wallet and the security implications of the system. Podcast audio courtesy of sykboy65 Subscribe to the Digital Underground...

Updated MacDefender Malware Appears, No Longer Needs Password

There’s a newer version of the MacDefender scareware program that’s now showing up on various Web sites, and this one no longer requires a user to enter her administrator password during the installation process in order to complete the infection routine. The first variants of MacDefender began...

Apple Plans Update to Address MacDefender Malware

Apple is planning to release an update specifically designed to protect users against the MacDefender malware that has been circulating for the last couple of weeks. The update for Mac OS X will automatically find and remove the malware on an infected machine and also will warn users if another...

Apple Mac Defender, MacProtector, and MacSecurity Fake Anti-Virus Software

Apple has released a security advisory related to the recent Mac fake anti-virus software. The most common names for this fake anti-virus software are MacDefender, MacProtector, and MacSecurity. This fake anti-virus software is the result of a phishing scam targeting Mac users that redirects them...

Crimeware Kit Emerges for Mac OS X

Crimeware kits have become a ubiquitous part of the malware scene in the last few years, but they have mainly been confined to the Windows platform. Now, reports are surfacing that the first such kit targeting Apple’s Mac OS X operating system has appeared. The kit is being compared to the Zeus...