Virus Programs For Mac Os X

Beneath its deceptively simple design lies a powerful virus cleaner that works in real-time to detect and remove not only Mac-specific viruses and spyware, but PC and mobile threats, too. So AVG AntiVirus not only helps protect all that’s important on your Mac, it also prevents you from infecting friends on other devices.

(Redirected from Trojan BackDoor.Flashback)

OSX.FlashBack^[1], also known as the Flashback Trojan, Fakeflash, or Trojan BackDoor.Flashback, is a Trojan horse affecting personal computer systems running Mac OS X.^[2]^[3] The first variant of Flashback was discovered by antivirus company Intego in September 2011.^[4]

Infection[edit]

According to the Russian antivirus company Dr. Web, a modified version of the 'BackDoor.Flashback.39' variant of the Flashback Trojan had infected over 600,000 Mac computers, forming a botnet that included 274 bots located in Cupertino, California.^[5]^[6] The findings were confirmed one day later by another computer security firm, Kaspersky Lab.^[7] This variant of the malware was first detected in April 2012^[8] by Finland-based computer security firm F-Secure.^[9]^[10] Dr. Web estimated that in early April 2012, 56.6% of infected computers were located within the United States, 19.8% in Canada, 12.8% in the United Kingdom and 6.1% in Australia.^[6]

Details[edit]

The original variant used a fake installer of Adobe Flash Player to install the malware, hence the name 'Flashback'.^[4]

A later variant targeted a Java vulnerability on Mac OS X. The system was infected after the user was redirected to a compromised bogus site, where JavaScript code caused an applet containing an exploit to load. An executable file was saved on the local machine, which was used to download and run malicious code from a remote location. The malware also switched between various servers for optimized load balancing. Each bot was given a unique ID that was sent to the control server.^[6] The trojan, however, would only infect the user visiting the infected web page, meaning other users on the computer were not infected unless their user accounts had been infected separately.^[11]

Resolution[edit]

Oracle, the company that develops Java, fixed the vulnerability exploited to install Flashback on February 14, 2012.^[8] However, at the time of Flashback's release, Apple maintained the Mac OS X version of Java and did not release an update containing the fix until April 3, 2012,^[12] after the flaw had already been exploited to install Flashback on 600,000 Macs.^[13] On April 12, 2015, the company issued a further update to remove the most common Flashback variants.^[14] The updated Java release was only made available for Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Snow Leopard; the removal utility was released for Intel versions of Mac OS X Leopard in addition to the two newer operating systems. Users of older operating systems were advised to disable Java.^[12] There are also some third party programs to detect and remove the Flashback trojan.^[13] Apple worked on a new process that would eventually lead to a release of a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Mac OS X at the same time it would be available for Windows, Linux, and Solaris users.^[15] As of January 9, 2014, about 22,000 Macs were still infected with the Flashback trojan.^[16]

References[edit]

^This is the name used in Apple's built-in anti-malware software XProtect. Other antivirus software vendors may use different names.
^5 April 2012, Flashback Trojan botnet infects 600,000 Macs, Siliconrepublic
^5 April 2012, 600,000 infected Macs are found in a botnet, The Inquirer
^ ^a^bSeptember 26, 2011, Mac Flashback Trojan Horse Masquerades as Flash Player Installer Package, Intego Security
^Jacqui Cheng, 4 April 2012, Flashback Trojan reportedly controls half a million Macs and counting, Ars Technica
^ ^a^b^c4 April 2012, Doctor Web exposes 550 000 strong Mac botnet Dr. Web
^Chloe Albanesius, 6 April 2012, Kaspersky Confirms Widespread Mac Infections Via Flashback Trojan, PCMag
^ ^a^b'Half a million Mac computers 'infected with malware''. BBC. April 5, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
^April 2, 2012, Mac Flashback Exploiting Unpatched Java Vulnerability F-Secure's News from the Lab
^11 April 2012, Apple crafting weapon to vanquish Flashback virus, Sydney Morning Herald
^Kessler, Topher. 'How to remove the Flashback malware from OS X'. CNET.
^ ^a^b'About Flashback malware'. Apple. April 10, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
^ ^a^b'flashbackcheck.com'. Kaspersky. April 9, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
^'About Java for OS X Lion 2012-003'. Apple. April 12, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
^'Mac Security: A Myth?'. eSecurity Planet. April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
^'It's alive! Once-prolific Flashback trojan still infecting 22,000 Macs'. January 9, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2014.

External links[edit]

Apple Delays, Hackers Play April 12, 2012

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flashback_(Trojan)&oldid=966375624'

You may have heard it's said that Macs don’t get viruses. That there’s no Apple virus. You may even have said it yourself. Sadly, it’s not true. The latest State of Malware Report by Malwarebytes describes a significant rise of Mac threats of over 400% in 2019. The report claims that cybercriminals now target Macs severely, due to increasing market share. So, do you still believe that Macs don’t get viruses? Continue reading to discover how to remove a virus from your Mac and protect your files from getting infected.

Can Macs get viruses?

Macs have been considered safer than Windows PC for a long time. Macs are indeed secure, thanks to various built-in features, such as GateKeeper, that doesn't allow installing anything not approved by Apple. But, as the Apple security features have improved, so is malware. According to the State of Malware report mentioned before, Macs are mostly attacked by adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUP), which macOS has no counteraction against. So, answering the question, yes, Macs do get viruses, and they may impact your sensitive file and data seriously.

How do I know if my Mac has a virus?

Before you remove a virus from a Mac, you need to be sure it actually has one. We’ve covered that in more detail in this article but here are a few pointers.

Your Mac starts behaving erratically and doing things you don’t expect;
Your Mac starts running very slowly as if something is hogging the processor;
You start seeing adverts on your desktop;
You find software or applications you didn’t install.
An app asks for your administrator password

These symptoms may mean your Mac has a virus, although there could be other explanations.

How to remove a virus from a Mac manually

Thankfully, there are lots of ways to do it. And Mac virus removal doesn’t have to cost money.

1. Delete browser extensions

One of the most common types of malware comes in the form of browser extensions. Even extensions that aren’t particularly malicious can be annoying, and if you didn’t deliberately install them, they’re malware. Here’s how to get rid of unwanted browser extensions.

Safari

Launch Safari.
Click Safari in the top menu, then choose Safari Extensions.
Look down the list and click on any extensions that look suspicious. Read the description of the extension. If you don’t remember installing it, click Uninstall.
Repeat until you’ve removed all the extensions you don’t want.

Chrome

Launch Chrome.
Click on the 3-dot icon in the upper right corner.
Select More Tools and choose Extensions from the menu that appears.
Look over the extensions in the browser window and click Remove on any that you don’t recognize.

Firefox

Launch Firefox.
Click the 3-line (hamburger) icon at the top right corner.
Choose Add-ons.
Click the Extensions tab and remove any you don’t recognize.

2. Uninstall apps

Malware comes in lots of different forms. And it even comes disguised as security software to help you get rid of viruses! Devious, huh?

If you’ve inadvertently downloaded an app that turns out to be a virus, you need to uninstall it immediately. There are a couple of ways to do this. Here’s the hard way.

Go to your Applications folder and drag the app to the Trash.
Go to ~/Library folder and look in the Application Support folder for any files related to the app and drag those to the Trash.
Look in the other folders in ~/Library, especially Launch Agents and Launch Daemons and remove any files related to the app from there. But be careful, if you remove files used by legitimate apps you could cause lots of problems.
Repeat Step 3 for your Mac’s main Library folder.

The easy way: Uninstall apps in a few clicks

Download and launch CleanMyMac X.
Click Uninstaller.
Check the box next to the application name.
Click Uninstall.

If you don’t know the name of the application, it’s more difficult. But if you use CleanMyMac X, all you have to do is scroll through the list of applications and look for any you don’t recognize or don’t need and remove them. CleanMyMac X removes every trace of an app, including files that you may overlook when you remove applications manually. This is particularly important for viruses, so it’s much better to use CleanMyMac X.
What makes this method even better, is that CleanMyMac X also shows you app leftovers that remained after the main app is gone.

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3. Escape the virus: Create a new user profile

Usually, viruses are attached to a particular user profile on your computer. In this way, they are able to seize control of your admin profile. But you can start if from scratch and create a new user on your Mac. Don't worry, you will be able to transfer all your important data from one user to another.

Go to Apple menu > System Preferences, click Users & Groups.

Click the lock icon , then type in your admin password.
Use the plus sign to add a new user profile.

To move your important information from one user to another, you will need to access the Shared folder.

Click on the Finder > Go to Folder..
Paste in this: /Users

Can you see the Shared folder? Here you can copy the needed files from your old user account. Hurray, you've started a clean, virus-free life!

Bonus tip: Clean up your login items

Login items are apps that launch automatically upon startup. Malware programs would often sneak into your login items without you knowing. How to prevent them from launching?

Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences.
Click Users & Groups.
Click on the Login Items tab

From here you can manage them using the [+] and [—] buttons.

How to remove a virus from Mac automatically

While the above steps work very well in lots of cases, sometimes the Mac virus removal means using a dedicated application to scan and remove malware from your Mac.

Scan your Mac for viruses

There are lots of these applications available, and many of them are either free or allow you to at the very least scan your Mac for free to find out whether you need to take action. Be careful, however. It’s important to choose a tool from a reputable vendor. If you just google ‘Mac antivirus tool’ some of the results may well be for tools that are themselves malicious and instead of removing viruses from your Mac will infect it. We recommend using CleanMyMac X.

It can identify thousands of malware threats, including adware, spyware, ransomware, worms, cryptocurrency miners. And if CleanMyMac finds something suspicious, it will offer immediate removal. Besides, it ensures real-time Mac virus protection, informing you when you’re about to install something harmful. Here’s how to perform a full system scan:

Download CleanMyMac X (free download) and launch the app.
Click on the Malware Removal tab.
Click Scan.
Click Remove.

Disable the invisible agents

Some small supporting applications never show up in the Login items. They are called the Launch agents and may as well be hacked by viruses. You can find them with the universal Mac cleaner, CleanMyMac. This app is notarized by Apple, so you are safe using it.

Launch the app and go to the Optimization tab.
Click Launch agents

How many apps do you see there? Remove any flash players, automatic updaters, or everything else that you find suspicious. Even if you deleted the main app itself, its launch agents may still occupy your drive. Here is what I have:

How to get rid of a virus on a Macbook Pro (or any other Mac) if all else fails

If you’ve run through all the steps above and are still having problems trying to remove a virus from a Mac, the next step is to restore from a Time Machine backup. The benefit of restoring from Time Machine is that you can do it quickly and easily by booting into the recovery partition and you can choose to backup to a state just before your Mac started behaving erratically.

The downside of this option is that any work you’ve done since the backup you restore from will be lost. You could manually copy files from your Mac to another drive or cloud storage service before you restore and then copy them back afterward. However, if one of those files is infected, you risk contaminating your Mac all over again. If there are documents you really need and that aren’t backed up elsewhere, use one of the antivirus tools above to run a scan on them before you copy them to another disk. That way you’ll know they’re safe.

Here’s how to restore from a Time Machine backup

Make sure you’re connected to your Time Machine backup drive.
Restart your Mac, holding down the Command and R keys until you see the Apple logo. When the macOS Utilities screen appears, choose Restore from a Time Machine Backup. Click Continue.
Choose the last backup before your Mac started misbehaving or you suspect you were infected with a virus.

Your Mac will now return to the state it was in when you made that backup.

If you don’t have a Time Machine backup to restore from, the last resort is to reinstall macOS. This is a ground-zero approach. You’ll need to wipe your startup drive completely clean and start again. That means reinstalling all your applications and copying all your data back to your Mac afterward. If you have a recent backup of your data, from before your Mac became infected, you can use that to copy data from after you re-install. If not, you’ll need to back up important files now — but scan them with an antivirus tool first to make sure they’re not infected.

To perform a clean install of macOS, you’ll need a bootable installer disk. Creating one is beyond the scope of this article, but there is a comprehensive guide here.

Once you’ve made your bootable installer, plug it into your Mac, go to System Preferences, choose Startup Disk and select the disk you just plugged in. Restart your Mac, holding down Command-R and do the following:

When the macOS Utilities screen appears, select Reinstall a new copy of macOS. Click Continue and then Continue again when the next window appears.
Agree to the terms and conditions and select your Mac’s internal disk.
Click Install. Wait for your Mac to restart.
Your Mac will start up as if it’s a new Mac and you’ll need to go through the process of setting it up from scratch.
Once you’ve set it up, copy back the files you need from the backup and that you know aren’t infected.

As you can see, there are many different ways to remove a virus from a Mac, depending on how badly infected it is and what kind of virus it is. The main thing to remember is if you suspect your Mac is infected, don’t worry. It can be fixed! Move on to our little Q&A section to find answers to questions many users ask.

FAQ

Do you need an antivirus for Mac?

Most of the antiviruses protect your Mac in real-time, making it apparent for you when an intruder appears. So, with antivirus software, you can be sure no PUP or adware can infect your computer. Antivirus is not a must-have software, but it indeed adds up a layer of protection if you use it.

Can you get a virus from opening an email?

Email viruses do exist, but you can’t catch one just by opening an email. What you need to be cautious with are email attachments. If you don’t know who that email comes from, avoid opening the attachment. It can contain PUP and other things you don’t need on your computer.

How to do a virus scan on Mac?