CNet Adware Identification and Removal Guide for Mac OS X

The links for many popular Mac apps on CNET’s download.com have been replaced with a “CNET installer” that installs toolbar adware and changes browser settings. This guide shows how to identify affected apps, how to avoid the toolbar installer, how to determine if it has been installed on your system, and how to remove it if so.

Adware can be a threat to user privacy, and is used to track a user’s browsing habits online. For example, the permissions for one of the Google Chrome extensions shows what these toolbars can …

CNET’s Download.com Adware Installer Bundled with Popular Apps –...

Update (10/29/13 12:15pm): SecureMac has prepared a guide to help users identify and remove the adware being distributed by CNET’s download.com in place of popular Mac apps. The guide provides detailed information, including step-by-step instructions to determine if the adware is installed on your system, and the steps to remove it. View CNet Adware Identification and Removal Guide for Mac OS X.

Direct download links for a variety of popular Mac software products have been replaced on CNET’s Download.com with installers for browser toolbars, commonly used by adware to track user …

MACDefender Analysis

 SecureMac Security Bulletin

Posted: May 2nd, 2011

Security Risk: Low

A new privacy and security threat is targeting computers running Apple’s Mac OS X disguised as an anti-virus program called MAC Defender. The fake anti-virus program will “detect” nonexistent threats as being present on the user’s system in an effort to persuade them to hand over their credit card information and purchase a “subscription” to the program. If that doesn’t do enough to convince the user to buy the fake anti-virus program, it will start popping up pornographic websites to create an actual …

MAC Defender Technical Analysis

Posted: May 2nd, 2011

Security Risk: Low
RELATED: MAC Defender Security Bulletin & Removal Instructions

PDF: https://www.securemac.com/pdf/macdefender.pdf

As noted in our security advisory at https://www.securemac.com/MAC-Defender-Rouge-Anti-Virus-Analysis-Removal.php there is a new piece of malware in the wild that is targeting computers running OS X. The following is a technical analysis of the malware sample that we analyzed; this analysis assumes familiarity with our original security advisory.

While this particular piece of malware is new to OS X, it follows the general modus operandi of most fake anti-virus programs that target Microsoft Windows. First, the user is presented …

MAC Defender Rogue Anti-Virus Analysis and Removal

SecureMac Security Bulletin

Due to the easy removal of the currently identified variant of this malware, SecureMac rates this threat as low. This Security Bulletin will be updated if the threat changes.

Updated: May 9th, 2011
Updated: May 4th, 2011
Posted: May 2nd, 2011

Security Risk: Low

UPDATE, May 9th, 2011: SecureMac has discovered a new version of the previously identified MAC Defender malware. The new variant, just like the previous identified “Mac Security” version, is an updated version of the original malware, rebranded as “Mac Protector.”

UPDATE, May 4th, 2011: SecureMac has discovered a new version …