Slashdot Mirror
Hackers Exploit MacKeeper Flaw To Spread OS X Malware
An anonymous reader writes: Controversial OS X 'clean-up utility' MacKeeper is being exploited by cybercriminals to diffuse Mac malware OSX/Agent-ANTU, according to the BAE cyber security unit. A single line of JavaScript on a malicious web-page is enough to hand over control of the user's system via MacKeeper. Lead security researcher Sergei Shevchenko said 'attackers might simply be 'spraying' their targets with the phishing emails hoping that some of them will have MacKeeper installed, thus allowing the malware to be delivered to their computers and executed,' The malware enables remote control over commands, uploads and downloads, and the setting of execution permissions, as well as granting access to details of VPN connections, user names, and lists of processes and statuses.
Slippin' malware into OSX, that is.
I thought MacKeeper was already malware. If you get suckered into installing it in the first place then anything goes.
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
A crapware "product" to "solve" a usually non-existent "problem", most heavily promoted by deceptive pop-ups on porn sites, turns out not to be entirely trustworthy? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!
It tricks people into installing it with sleazy ads, does nothing useful (and often stuff that is harmful) while slowing down the victim's system. I've yet to meet someone running it that wanted it on their computer.
And now yet another reason to avoid it.
I wish Apple would revoke their dev certificate so the low-info users could at least be protected from this shit by Gatekeeper.
If you have the MacKeeper malware on your Mac, it means you are already installing any malware/crapware/virus etc on your system by yourself. This added attack vector is not even needed...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
to ever happen to anyone anywhere is this malarkey.
But all the Mac fanbois tell me that Apple products never get viruses....
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
You can spread any type of malware you want with this flaw.
So the first thought I had on reading the title was the predictable joke about MacKeeper being malware. But from reading the article, it sounds to me like MacKeeper installs a custom URL handler, which directs to a process that they installed which parses a command script from the URL and executes it. So, a component which allows any web site to run code outside your browser. That's malware, not in the sarcastic "less-than-useless" sense, but in the literal "actively installs attack vectors" sense.
Why? If you don't like JS, turn it off. JavaScript is an okay scripting language. This is talking about JS interacting with an already installed malware plugin. Off course once your computer has been compromised, you can do whatever you want. You could make it into a clapper (clap on/clap off), not that hard to do.
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Meanwhile, on this very comment page for this very article about how MacKeeper is spreading malware... there are two ads on this page pushed by Slashdot for.... wait for it... MacKeeper.
And I do the same on friends' machines when performing maintenance.
Macs don't get viruses.
Working exactly as designed, I suspect.
Apple just works! Even when badly written by a bunch of idiots!
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
usin maxxb00xx
How did it come to this, that a once great tech mag is reduced to spamming the Internet with slashvertisments for the MICROS~1 corporation. Currently on the main page: 11 mentions of Windows and 05 mentions of Microsoft.
And because 99.999% of mac users are complete morons who think simply running the OS makes them immune to all hacking this is going to be extra effective. Good job, crapple marketing team. You've raised a whole generation of users are are completely unprepared for what's coming.