How to Protect Yourself from Mac OS X Trojans

Although I can’t say that I am 100% innocent when it comes to pirating software, Chris is right. Many viruses and Trojans come from the user being stupid not from the system. People need to start blaming themselves for problems that they create.

Dude, at least tell us how to find and delete them. I’m not complaining, but your article didn’t help whatsoever. Unprofessional.

Here here!

That’s actually stupid saying things like that because most people downloaded the trials and entered serial numbers from The pirate bay or something.

:/

Chris,

I love your no-bullsh!t approach to this. And you couldn’t be more correct. It’s like the people who complain about being infected on their PCs. “I didn’t do anything” or “It wasn’t me, must have been an update from Microsoft”.

There was a time where I didn’t run any form of AV/AS on my PC (now a Mac User) because I simply used good judgement on program installation and general practice.

I think the people that pirate software deserve to be infected. If you truly want to “try” the software before you buy (taking from the old 24-hr eval period of my Rzr-1911 days) then contact the developer. Almost all of them have a demo available or if you ask nicely they will provide you an unpublished demo before you spend your hard-earned quid.

Great content as always, sir!

-James @ int23.com

Common sense, eh?

Plus, who knows where the sources for these pirated softwares are coming from. Borrowing the iWork ‘09 disc is one thing but downloading it from untrusted sources is a no-no.

If you have to stop, think and question if it’s legal or safe, just don’t download.

Harsh but true. It’s hard to believe that people don’t think that 1) pirating is illegal and immoral 2) software they download from the Internet/pickup from ‘buddies’ or market stands isn’t riddled with malware.

It seems strange that people who have sufficient knowledge to download and pirate software for a Mac don’t have enough knowledge to realise that it is pretty simple to get rid of the trojans.

I tell all my friends to stay clear of Limewire and similar programs, as it is cheaper to go out and buy the programs than pay me to fix their systems all the time.

I agree Chris, i have heard about the new iwork 09 being released on torrent sites and that they have a new Trojan. I decided to look it up and look in the comments to see how many idiots downloaded this just to destroy there system. There were so many and also windows users saying “So macs do get viruses.” Obvioulsy macs get viruses but mainly if you torrent download. Like you said Chris, the way to avoid Viruses on any OS are;

Don,t Bit Torrent

and most of all

!!!!PAY FOR LEGIT SOFTWARE!!!!

Hey Chris, i totally agree, when i 1st heard about this i decided to look at the torrent sites and see how many idiots downloaded this and how many complained of getting a trojan. All the Windows who commented this said things like ‘So macs do get viruses.’ Yeah obviously every OS gets viruses but some are not as common as others. If you decide to download programs illegally rather that buy a legit copy there you get what your given. I totally agree chris that its not Microsoft’s fault or Apples fault, its the people fault who downloaded the torrent in the 1st place.

Don’t download torrent software in the 1st place

!!!!BUY THE LEGIT COPY!!!!

Someway I have expected that you are going to say that when I saw the title of your post.

I Twitterred something to this effect a few days ago, but it’s good to see Chris agreeing with me.

You are, for the most part, safe on any platform if you do things legitimately.

It’s funny. My school friends would always laugh at me when I told them I bought music, and bought software. Well, now they’re getting infected, and they’re running to people like me for help. Life is beautiful, eh?

well same here i agree dont donload pirated software you jack4ss

The problem is that Mac users are under the false impression that their “computers” are impervious to malware. I actually get a little more satisfaction every time I hear about a new Mac trojan making the rounds.

Wow – wait a sec!
Encouraging fair n legal use is one things Chris, but I gotta tell u this post seems extreme in its choice of words as well as illogical.
Explanation:

What does a young aspiring graphic designer (for instance) who wants to learn the trade to do?
He can’t use GIMP or Pixelator (adobe alternatives) – as he’s trying to school himself with industry standards.

So follow my example here –
in order to achieve this, according to ChrisPirillo standards he would have to purchase Full Adobe suite, a pro font manager/creater, a good cross-platform icon creation app, maybe some PC2MAC apps (e.g. Transmac, etc.) and so on…

Now u do the math and tell me what kind of monthly income should 1 generate in order to afford this. Right, no way near what a young person can afford…

Trial versions dont address these issues as they r time based and do not allow more than 30 days (hardly enough to professionalize with 1 adobe app let alone the whole suite). “student” (discount) licenses do not solve the problem really, just diminish it slightly n besides, u have 2 b enrolled somewhere. Newsflash: that costs money too, and totally unnecessary for many people wit
h self learning skills.

Simply put, one would have pay gazzilions for the apps, or gazzilions for design school (then he can use their ‘puters).

I’m really surprised u point the finger at the users on this – Adobe controls the industry, n its fine to pay them every dime once u use it for work, but how the heck do i get there if i cant afford to put the damn app on my ‘puter in order to train?!?!

If 21st cent. technology has brought us to a point where all one needs to learn a trade is 1K$ PC and an internet hookup – there should be no legal or biz obstructions on the way… Adobe should be happy with this – it turns us all to Adobe minions 1ce we hit the industry. We won’t let our boss purchase any other design software.

Multimedia artists (unlike the aforementioned mere graphic designers) require so much software to learn in order to get into the biz (graphich, video, post prod, audio, VJ, encoding, ripping, and on and on) – it simply makes your point of view seem out of touch with reality….

you’re my favorite techTV survivor – don’t go all institutional on me now ;)

Robot55

at: -James @ int23.com

With all due respect to the “good judgement” method – as a system manager (at previousl lief LOL :) I saw crazy security exploits that would have crashed your windows PC about 10 seconds after u jack in the modem cable, without any browser even being open!!!

An exaggeration u say? :) Try this for sports:

when using direct modems (not home router) install a pre-SP2 version of WinXP (u may have no choice, as u are using a LEGIT unpirated copy, u are doomed to forever re-install with lame buggy SP1 OS ver ).
Sure, Windows will want to update to SP2/SP3 – but in order to that, it would have to connect to the internet…

1ce the modem cable is connected to your ‘puter, it’s just a matter of time (less than a minute) till your IP is chosen randomly by some malicious bot that tries new logon IPs tirelessly until it finds one with a machine running a PreE-SP2 winXP.

Boom. Fat lady sings :( All your BASE belongs to them now…

Dunno if maybe at yer place (the USA, heh :) they combat this at the ISP level somehow, but in Israel n some european countries – this can happen easily.

So – “good judgement” is a wise policy, but it can never ever suffice as Intrusion Countermeasures. It isn’t.

Surf safe now ;)
Robot55

BitTorrent is not evil, at all. It is quite the opposite to share big files to protect your server against burning. BitTorrent is not a thing, it is a technology.

The makers of WOW use it to provide all users the huge updates quickly. Or just think of SuSE linux distrubition.

BitTorrent gets illegal, when sharing illegal files, like piracy copies.

Why must people steal a Photoshop CS4? Ok, $1000 bucks are much, but why not using other stuff like Gimp? It is not that powerful, but as a private person you do not need to pro stuff.

iWork is below $80 and affordable by everyone. So, if you got a virus, than it happened the right way!

Stop whining your system is infected! Shame on you!

Format your harddrive to get rid off it or use your brain and Google. Almost every news article provides a solution.

Thanks Chirs, for opening the eyes to some stupid lamers.

I totally agree. Pirating is also a waste of bandwidth (If you have bandwidth restrictions), and the fact that you are not giving your money over to the rightful owners and the fact that you are not supporting the people who have made it, and in this case, Apple.

It is also severe disrespect to the company/programmers/developers who have spent all their time creating the program.

Chris is right on the money. You pirate software it’s you own fault stupid.

Robot55,get a clue and a job.

A lot of it is pirating from the guy who goes,
“Hai guise! I has CS4! Seed plz!” and people fall for it…most of the time, it seems. -_-
If someone only pirates from (how ironic) trusted uploaders who don’t try to trick people and know some people want the software without hassles.
The top pirated game this year was Spore, in protest of DRM and EA in general.
It seems like another form of civil disobedience, in my honestly humble opinion.
But the straight-up “Don’t pirate software” is a bit extreme-not all of us can afford Adobe’s over-priced software. Free alternatives exist but none of them are industry standards because the industry hasn’t embraced open-source yet.

Hello,

There are other ways to get infected with malware than by downloading pirated software.

Running antivirus software is another good solution to the problem. Integeo, McAfee and Symantec all offer software to protect Mac OS X from malware. Installing a program sounds prudent, given the fact that OS X infecting malware is now starting to make the news.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

That’s bullshit. Chris just wants to rant instead of think.
If you download a FREE app for OS X there is a chance of it being a trojan as well. So THERE!

@TommyR –
huh?
” Chris is right 0 get a clue n a job” ?? – that is your contribution to the debate.
1st, I’ve been working in the computer industry for 15yrs now (ever since highschool) – I been working at every angle of it (art, dev, content, system, it, hardware, software, u name it)

2nd – “get a clue?” Look at my previous post! It is full of “clue”. Although it’s a bit lengthy, it describes the logic of my arguments in detail, it is not merely shouting, and it tries to xplain in understandable terms why I hold this point of view.

Very much unlike your post, if I may say so, which is simply cheering Chris and booing me without any argument (logical or illogical) at all.

so I guess my Q to you TommyR, is how does it feel, to realize that the poor sentence u posted up there is the best u can contribute to an intelligent debate?

hope yer kids turn out smarter n better,
Robot55

Woow how stuip can people get for software that only cost $20-40 Its pitiful!! :(

I know this posting is a month old, but I completely agree! I know somebody who has never legally paid his software, he pirates all of it. He even pirated OS X Leopard! He never actually pays for all of this expensive software, and for some reason, I wish that one of these times he’d get a trojan on his MacBook just because he downloads so much software illegally. Being a complete computer freak and also wanting to go to college for computer software and hardware development, I always pay for my software and hardware. It’s important to give the software (and hardware) developers the money they deserve for making great products. Adobe CS4 is a very complex amazing set of programs that is meant to be several thousand dollars, not free! Pirating it is no different than going into a store and actually stealing it because you’re getting a license without paying for it. How could you live with yourself after stealing over $2000 in programs from a company/store, especially in these economic times? It took lots of time and money for the software developers to create these programs that they feel is a fair price to charge for all their programs can do, and people feel they have the right to steal it since they can’t afford these programs? Well if you don’t have the money, then that’s your problem, and you should save your money for it so can actually legally buy it since that’s the RIGHT thing to do. It’s not super easy to get a trojan on Mac OS X where it is on Windows (especially less recent versions), but you still run a small risk for everything you download regardless. Seeing that some people put pirated versions of software with trojans online for people to download actually puts a grin on my face because it means that the people who go to pirate it from online get a trojan on their computer, which is what they deserve! Anyway, I couldn’t agree with Chris any more when he wrote: “If you were stupid enough to pirate software, you deserve everything that happens to you and your system”.

I don’t pirate nothin”….which must be why I have nothin’ to fear! OS X Rocks! XP fell by the wayside but I still run it in Parallels to do some work.

Education is not FREE. Pay the price or pay the penalty!