New Ransom malware CAN NOT get data back

[Rob-F]

Using a Mac does not absolve you of duty to purchase (and update) antivirus. ~10 years ago Macs were generally secure enough on their own. This is not the case as of 2015.

Using Chrome (on any device) is a good idea in general. Their Sandbox is fairly competent and should be a good first line of defense.

If you have an Apple laptop, make sure your OS is no further than 1-2 generations behind the latest. Running Snow Leopard in 2015 is a bad, bad idea.

Oops! I have been believing Apple about not needing antivirus (although it has been a while since I last asked them). I wonder if Apple may by now even be selling an antivirus for its own machines?

Oops #2: I'm running Snow Leopard. I have been reluctant to upgrade because I know than past some point of upgrade the OS will no longer support my Aperture 3. I will NEVER give up Aperture 3. And yeah, I have LR. Feh. But I think I can upgrade to about two versions later than Snow Leopard before I get in trouble, and apparently I should.

Question: Am I understanding that Snow Leopard is more vulnerable to viruses than later versions?

Question: Can I run Chrome on m iMac and my Macbook? And Chrome is less vulnerable?

Guess I've been asleep at the switch while the threat has been growing.

 

[Ezzie]

Snow Leopard is very vulnerable. It has been several years since Apple stopped supporting it. In other words it hasn't had a security update in ages. We had an old Macbook that the girls used for browsing, and it was ridden with malware. Upgraded to the latest possible, and still supported OSX version (in our case Mountain Lion) and all gone.

Also, if you were to want to install an antivirus program, none support Snow Leopard, most require Lion or later.

 

[Rob-F]

". . . and all gone." You mean it was the malware that was gone?

I am going to download the lion or Mountain lion version this weekend! (which is the later one?)

 

[f16sunshine]

I have one machine running 10.5.8 in order to use NikonScan4. It's been a while since I booted it up.
Thanks to all this conversation, I'll keep it off the home network and internet .

Good luck everyone!

 

[btgc]

Whitelisting is software that only permits execution of code (i.e. privileges, etc ) to a list of specific executables. All other executable calls will be ignored or blocked.

This were new to me, thanks. But then if I were on dark side I'd figure out how to make my piece of code to pretend being a system process as they are too many to whitelist them manually or read whitelist and pretend being one of whites, or to include myself in whitelist.

I realize some of the tasks are hard or near impossible but that's how evil works. Leave a hole and it will find its path.

Still remember the night after moving when I plugged PC (XP, pre-SP3) which had been used only with dial-up to VPN into open network - it even couldn't proceed until login as it got busted.

 

[willie_901]

Oops! I have been believing Apple about not needing antivirus (although it has been a while since I last asked them). I wonder if Apple may by now even be selling an antivirus for its own machines?

Oops #2: I'm running Snow Leopard. I have been reluctant to upgrade because I know than past some point of upgrade the OS will no longer support my Aperture 3. I will NEVER give up Aperture 3. And yeah, I have LR. Feh. But I think I can upgrade to about two versions later than Snow Leopard before I get in trouble, and apparently I should.

Question: Am I understanding that Snow Leopard is more vulnerable to viruses than later versions?

Question: Can I run Chrome on m iMac and my Macbook? And Chrome is less vulnerable?
.

Practically all (if not all) third-party OS X ant-virus software does more harm than good. All the IT security pros I know do not use third-party security software with OS X.

In fact Apple does sell anti-virus software as it is built into OS X. And (so far) upgrades are free unless you need a new computer to run the most secure version of OS X. A simple Google search will reveal ways to maximize OS X security. Apple provides materials on the Support section of its site.

One basic method is to have OS X two accounts. One is essentially empty and is the only account with administrator privileges. The other account is where you do all your work. This makes it extremely difficult for malware to obtain root privileges. It is inconvenient though as you have to log into the administrator account to perform certain tasks. Less risk usually means less convenience.

Upgrading any OS is inconvenient as one has to adjust to the differences. Yosemite assumes you will take advantage of a free iCloud account. Of course it is possible to opt out of all iCloud access. I suggest you read some of the countless Yosemite upgrade guides out there.


With regard to Snow Leopard, it is more vulnerable. Aperture 3 should run on 10.9 or greater.

Chrome runs well on OS X. Irrespective of what browser you us (or even if run use Windows, OS X or Linux) the most common threats involve social engineering as opposed to hacks. This assumes you have taken reasonable precautions such as updating the OS and running anti-virus Apps on Windows (except maybe Windows 10?).

 

[willie_901]

But then if I were on dark side I'd figure out how to make my piece of code to pretend being a system process as they are too many to whitelist them manually or read whitelist and pretend being one of whites, or to include myself in whitelist.

You are missing the fundamental principle that risk can never be zero (0.0% probability).

The only thing one can do is reduce the risk as much as possible. Reducing the risk by orders of magnitude is the best one can do.

Do you actually think 99.99% of private individuals connected to the internet (who are not committing criminal acts) have information that justifies the sort of effort you describe?

When asked how come he robbed banks, the notorious Willie Sutton famously replied, "Because that's where the money is". Criminals who devlop state-of-the art solutions follow the money.

 

[YYV_146]

Oops! I have been believing Apple about not needing antivirus (although it has been a while since I last asked them). I wonder if Apple may by now even be selling an antivirus for its own machines?

Oops #2: I'm running Snow Leopard. I have been reluctant to upgrade because I know than past some point of upgrade the OS will no longer support my Aperture 3. I will NEVER give up Aperture 3. And yeah, I have LR. Feh. But I think I can upgrade to about two versions later than Snow Leopard before I get in trouble, and apparently I should.

Question: Am I understanding that Snow Leopard is more vulnerable to viruses than later versions?

Question: Can I run Chrome on m iMac and my Macbook? And Chrome is less vulnerable?

Guess I've been asleep at the switch while the threat has been growing.

As others have pointed out, Snow Leopard is significantly more vulnerable than, say, Mavericks or Yosemite. I don't think any security updates have been provided since 2014.

As for antivirus, there is debate on this. But I would not say that Norton or AVG is "bad" for your Mac. Perhaps the better advice is to use antivirus if your OS isn't the latest (Yosemite).

Chrome can be run. This is again a point of debate, but many will agree that Chrome has the best browser security in the business currently. Do expect a bit of a slowdown, though, since Chrome is not optimized for OS X in the way that Safari is.

 

[photomoof]

One basic method is to have OS X two accounts. One is essentially empty and is the only account with administrator privileges. The other account is where you do all your work. This makes it extremely difficult for malware to obtain root privileges. It is inconvenient though as you have to log into the administrator account to perform certain tasks. Less risk usually means less convenience.

I have not tried that, but how does it affect things like Time Machine or installing software, I assume all software would have to be installed from the admin account?

Time machine requires admin passwords to change from manual to auto for instance. Passwords are required to change security on opening apps, that sort of thing.

 

[btgc]

You are missing the fundamental principle that risk can never be zero (0.0% probability).
....
Criminals who devlop state-of-the art solutions follow the money.

I had exactly same thought, about percents. Staying at home during storm also just minimizes risk as one can die from household accidents, too.

Latter point comes down to math - some steal govt secrets and sell them, some rob banks and some collect pennies for giving back access to personal data. If penny picker realizes good part of people are feeling safe on cloud, it acts. It depends how big part of users are in cloud.

 

[willie_901]

I have not tried that, but how does it affect things like Time Machine or installing software, I assume all software would have to be installed from the admin account?

Time machine requires admin passwords to change from manual to auto for instance. Passwords are required to change security on opening apps, that sort of thing.

For almost all tasks that require administrator privileges in a non-administrator account a pop-up window appears asking for the administrator account name and password. This is the primary inconvenience/risk reduction trade off. The pop up windows cover almost all tasks except for control settings (mainly Parental Controls - which includes whitelisting), changing file/directory permissions and account creation or deletion.

I suggest you visit Apple's Support site and read the details before making this change.

Obviously an easily guessed administrator account username/password combination must be avoided. One can view countless WWW web cams because they ship with the a default account name/password such as admin/admin or administrator/administrator. This used to be true for many routers as well, but thankfully is rare theses days.

 

[Ronald M]

Backups do not solve it. Malware will infect backup if it is active.

Best to go off line and do manual back up and have a secondary one.

 

[Godfrey]

Backups do not solve it. Malware will infect backup if it is active.

Best to go off line and do manual back up and have a secondary one.

You do realize that you've added a response to a thread whose last post was six years ago? 🙂

I run Apple macOS.

Time Machine is always running while I work, and I've opted to have it ignore various directories that are backed up independently from its operation, which includes any and all of my financial records and photographic work.

The backups are off-line unless I'm performing a backup operation. It minimizes the exposure to malware, etc.

I've also always maintained an administrator account with full privileges and user account with reduced privileges since macOS X was released in 2001. I don't find it particularly inconvenient because there are only a small number of operations that require administrator account privileges. It does help reduce exposure and protect against intruders.

G