Malware alerts

[ken1953clark]

Keep getting these messages from my virus checker while using the board. Not every page, but regularly.

"The website at michaelmesser.proboards.com contains elements from the site www.5xm.com, which appears to host malware – software that can hurt your computer or otherwise operate without your consent. Just visiting a site that contains malware can infect your computer.
For detailed information about the problems with these elements, visit the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page for www.5xm.com.
Learn more about how to protect yourself from harmful software online.

Not sure there's much you can do but thought you ought to know.

[Deleted]

yeah I'm getting that too

[Michael Messer]

I am not getting those messages. Can anyone advise me what, if anything, I can do? I use a MAC. I will check with Proboards too.

Thanks

shine On
Michael.

[honeyboy]

Looks like it is my profile avatar that is causing this alert. I've changed it for another picture on another server, it should have gone now??

The pic was on a server in Nottingham housing 8,000 websites that all got hacked at the end of May by a rather unpleasant russian gentleman. It is all cleaned up now, but google is still flagging it as infected (which it is not).

Actually, I notice that google is flagging itself as infected, if you use the same Google safebrowsing check here...

[Deleted]

yep all fine now. Explains why it was only some pages

[Michael Messer]

Well spotted Honeyboy.

Shine On
Michael

[growler]

Michael..........like you I am on a mac, have always been on one, being in the advertising industy which is largely mac based.
I have had a new one installed this week with the latest operating system ( on OSX10.3 for years ).............. wow the new operating system is fantastic, i did not know that you-tube looked and sounded so good , strangely enough your website looks better and I can access and scroll it a lot quicker.......... macs don't seem to have these virus issues that PCs have , but I have heard recently that this could be changing with their popularity lately.

regards

Growler

[honeyboy]

Actually the russian hack was called Pinhead-B / HellRTS which is a particularly nasty trojan that targets a known vulnerability in the iPhoto application on a Mac.

Simply by displaying a malformed .jpg on your screen it can inject code onto your computer and allow remote hackers to gain control over your Mac and access any sensitive personal data on them.

This particular exploit does not affect PC's - it is solely targetted at Mac users.

More info here

[Michael Messer]

Thanks for posting that Honeyboy. This may be a stupid question, but how would I know if my Mac had caught the virus?

Shine On
Michael.

[honeyboy]

Michael,

1. Ensure you install all Apple operating system updates in a prompt and timely manner. (i.e. the day or day after it is issued)

2. Install a good quality anti virus product. Something like Kapersky Labs product or similar. It will scan your computer and remove anything unhealthy. It will also prevent new 'code injection' threats, since it is updated several times a day, every day.

Apple have been using the 'fact' that Macs don't suffer from viruses and malware extensively in their marketing, so it is difficult for them to advertise the fact that they are increasingly adding anti malware patches to their operating system updates.

I think this makes their users more vulnerable.

According to Sophos, there are currently 48 known Trojans targeting Mac users; Trojans are amongst the most dangerous of threats but Apple’s current security until recently only defends against 2.

[Michael Messer]

Thanks Honeyboy. My Mac updates itself automatically, so everything is always up to date, but I do not use an anti-virus program. I will from now on.

Shine On,
Michael.

[growler]

Honeyboy
I have never put any virus protection into any mac I have owned , but what you have mentioned does open my eyes , maybe I should protect this new one. Although what I done over the years is have 2 macs running, one for e-mails / internet, the other purely for work , no e-mails coming into this one at all , just for sending the work out done on it, although I have googled on it a few times for reference purposes,
Would the top of the range ' Norton ' protection system cover all these problems mentioned?.
Just to get back to music I ordered a set of ' Creative ' speakers for the new system which arrived this morning ........ I fitted them straight away, .......they sound wonderful , sitting hear typing this listening to ' Love is strange ' , the new Jackson Browne/David Lindley CD . I have only heard this on my old I-mac and car CD ........ I did not realize it sounded so good

Regards

Growler

[honeyboy]

Growler,

The top two rated antivirus/anti malware products for the mac are Kapersky Labs and BitDefender.

Of the two, Kapersky uses less memory and has less of an impact on your machines performance.

Norton has a reputation as a 'memory hog' and is significantly less good and detecting and removing 'difficult' threats than the others (according to independent reviews).

I don't have a mac anymore , so I'm in no way able to comment from my own recent experience.

[Deleted]

Wish I had a Mac. They have a reputation of being bulletproof with viruses.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2010 19:53:02 GMT @eastmountain said:

Wish I had a Mac. They have a reputation of being bulletproof with viruses.

As I understood things (and I know basically nothing about this stuff!) Macs were only less affected by viruses because of the massive domination of Microsoft. Essentially, everyone was making viruses and malware that attacked Windows, and no-one bothered going for mac systems because so few people used them. The current success of Apple means that we'll probably see more viruses attacking macs. Especially as Jobs now inspires as much dislike as Gates does!