Mac Malware on the Rise

Since time immemorial, we always believed that Mac OS based computers were free from malware and other such nasty stuff. In fact, the no virus/malware on Macs used to be touted a feature and one of the biggest reasons to buy a Mac.

No longer safe?

Well, not anymore. A fake anti-virus program has not started attacking Macs, but is bombarding users with spam. According to PCworld, “the malicious Mac app is called MacDefender and it hides within Web pages that use search engine optimization to spam the results of popular searches. Infected Websites show a fake animation of a malware scan in Windows, followed by a pop-up telling users that their computer is infected. JavaScript on the page then automatically downloads a compressed ZIP file containing the malware”.

The fake MacDefender uses the name of a legit anti-virus developer and looks quite convincing by copying the looks of the original software. Once installed, it starts finding non-existant viruses and starts loading up pornography on the user’s computer. The reason it does so is to force the users into parting with their credit card information, which the malware states is necessary to remove the viruses and spam messages.

Those who are infected can follow the steps given at The Next Web. But those who aren’t infected and want to stay safe can uncheck the "open 'safe' files after downloading" option in the Safari web browser as well as use a little common sense.