Are you on a Mac computer? This is for you.
We Apple users have enjoyed relatively safe surfing for so long, so why now?
It’s been written that once Apple reached a 16% marketshare, only then would the financial payoff be worth the time to target Macs.
There are many different kinds of attacks (a post for another time)… this one is “scareware“… it shocks you into thinking there’s a virus on your computer, so you download the program to get rid of it, except the program is actually the virus.
The scam is running under 5 different names: MacDefender / MacGuard / MacKeeper / MacProtector / MacSecurity.
The popup windows look like this:
How do you protect yourself?
Don’t download it.
Pretty obvious huh. Pretty crazy that people actually fall for this.
Remember – if you didn’t go searching for it, do not accept any downloads.
If You Already Downloaded It
Apple has put out an official statement on how to deal with MacDefender… click here.
They’ll be soon releasing a OS X update to search and destroy any MacDefender that may be on your hard drive.
Future Steps to Protect your Computer
You can be sure there’s way more where this came from, and much more sophisticated, too.
If you would like a Mac anti-virus program, go with Kapersky, they’re world-class.
In your browser preferences turn off “automatically open downloaded files”.
Watch my Change your Passwords video below and follow my instructions.
Be wise, it’s a big internet out there!
xo Keri
