Subhadip Chanda

Apple users have for long boasted about how secure the MAC OS is,and security has always been a key point whenever you look at Apple. But this ‘Pseudo Security’ Myth was broken recently by the ‘MAC Defender’ Trojan. The fake software which spoofed to generate fake virus alerts has been spreading across the internet very fast.

‘MAC Defender’ is a rouge software that is designed to spoof virus alerts on users MAC. The software opens porn Web pages at intervals and convinces the user that his or her system has been compromised,and that the only way out of it is to register for the ‘MAC Defender’,for which they ask you to pay them, and in turn your credit card information is being routed through insecure servers.

How it spread so fast ?

Those behind the Trojan used SEO poisoning to make links to the software show up at the top of search results in Google and other search engines. Clicking the links that show up in search results brings up a fake Windows screen that tells the user a virus has been “detected”.JavaScript code then automatically downloads a zipped installer for MAC Defender.

Surprisingly Apple has asked its support staff to not to  entertain any queries about the ‘MAC Defender’ . The company is behaving as if the attack never took place.

Well although the Apple products are good,style icons,and safe compared to many other platforms, that doesn’t make them the ‘ultimate devices ‘ whose security can’t be breached. The reason I suppose why the MAC is still not having as many malwares as Windows, is that it has still a verry negligible market share when compared with Windows, and thus it’s not worth the effort for malware developers.

Even if you are vigilant enough to trace that the software is fishy, there are always platform independent attacks like , phishing and scams prevail on internet. So the best option to stay secure is to be vigilant and keep your self informed.

Well since the Apple is not going to offer any help on this matter there forums have been flooding with queries about removal of this rogue software.

A user at Apple forums points out that “Open activity monitor and look for MacDefender, double click on it and force quit. Then go to your application folder and drag Mac Defender to the trash. Also go to system preferences and go to accounts look at the login items to see if there is anything related to MacDefender, if there is click on it then click on the minus sign to remove it. Open finder and do a search for Mac Defender and delete any related files.”

Here is a bunch of links to online guides that will help you to get rid of this malware :

Associated Mac Defender Files:

/Applications/MacDefender.app/
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Info.plist
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/MacOS
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/MacOS/MacDefender
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/PkgInfo
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/About-Back.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/AboutD.nib
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/AboutMBMI.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/affid.txt
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/ControlCenterD.nib
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_1.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_2.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_3.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_4.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_5.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_6.png
/Applications/MacDefender.app/Contents/Resources/Curing_7.png
… <numerous other image and media files>