Bill, et al, I hesitate to share my thoughts when such august advice is already there but I'd like to offer a few suggestions I have found (so far - touch wood!) work and which are used and commended by many current and long time Mac users with various OS versions running.
1. *DO NOT BUY ANY SO CALLED VIRUS prevention app* for the Mac! None of them work and some are themselves Trojan horses of sorts. Also* avoid free SPAM catchers* - they often send out SPAM and PHISHING Mails to all your address book contacts without your knowing it and yet show your name as the source. These are more frequently found on PCs but just take care. 2. *Be very careful of any Cleaner* or so named apps. 3. Get *Etrecheck* from Etresoft.com - its free and does an excellent job of checking your system and shows a report indicating any problems. Its author is accessible if you have a problem. 4. Etrecheck includes a Malware filter but also reccommends - as I do too - *Malware Bytes* (https://www.malwarebytes.com/antimalware/mac/) which is again free and does an excellent job speedily checking for any problems that have got through your gate. 5. *Onyx *(http://www.titanium.free.fr) is a superb and very reliable tool including all manner of cleaning and reorganising gear. Again its free and its authors personally deal with problems and advice requests. Versions for every OS since 10.3 are available... I have it running on my Pismo and my MBPs and my other halfs iMac. I have never heard of anyone having problkems wit the above and indeed those who use them speak for them as highly as I do myself. Having an author actually accessible is a real assurance! One question for our friend and sage at ASU - do you still have your TERAK? Kind regards and good luck with your new President! Fingers crossed that, like Brexit which is a pain for us, wisewr counsel will be heard and all will be well! Colin Yarwood Apple User since '77 and still running an Apple ][! On 19 November 2016 at 07:43, <imaclist@googlegroups.com> wrote: > imaclist@googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email#!forum/imaclist/topics> > Google > Groups > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!overview> > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!overview> > Topic digest > View all topics > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email#!forum/imaclist/topics> > > - Macs and viruses <#m_1115254456221622654_group_thread_0> - 5 Updates > > Macs and viruses > <http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist/t/53c23c327c08ac99?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email> > Bill Spencer <wspen...@jhu.edu>: Nov 18 06:02AM -0800 > > Hi there: My wife has lately been getting spam emails, allegedly from her > email provider, which include links to click to resolve "problems"--you > know the drill. She has not taken the bait, but when I contacted the > provider on her behalf to triple-check that her account is still in the > clear, I got quite a lengthy sales pitch for all sorts of Mac-related > anti-virus and security stuff that they want us to buy. I have never > really > worried about that sort of thing in the past, but times do change and I > thought I would see what the received wisdom is nowadays about the need > for > such programs...and if there *is *a need, what to install. She's on > 10.10.5 > and I'm on 10.11.something. > > (FYI, she does not want to switch email providers, even to save the $100 > or > so a year, because of the understandable headache of notifying everyone, > changing her business cards, her website, etc., and needing/wanting to > keep > her old messages in one place.) > > As always, my thanks in advance! > > ***************** > > Bill Spencer in Maryland > Older iMac and newer Mini, OS-es as above. > "Bruce Johnson" <john...@pharmacy.arizona.edu>: Nov 18 04:13PM > > On Nov 18, 2016, at 7:02 AM, Bill Spencer <wspen...@jhu.edu<mailto:wspen > c...@jhu.edu>> wrote: > > Hi there: My wife has lately been getting spam emails, allegedly from her > email provider, which include links to click to resolve "problems"--you > know the drill. She has not taken the bait, but when I contacted the > provider on her behalf to triple-check that her account is still in the > clear, I got quite a lengthy sales pitch for all sorts of Mac-related > anti-virus and security stuff that they want us to buy. I have never really > worried about that sort of thing in the past, but times do change and I > thought I would see what the received wisdom is nowadays about the need for > such programs...and if there is a need, what to install. She's on 10.10.5 > and I'm on 10.11.something. > > So long as her system is set to update automatically, Apple routinely > pushes out new definitions for their built-in anti-malware stuff so there’s > that protection first off. > > The overwhelmingly vast majority of malware out there still targets > Windows (and increasingly Android) so a security suite for OS X is, in my > professional opinion, largely unnecessary. If you want a more detailed > analysis mention what they’re offering. (If it says Intego or Norton’s > anywhere in the name it’s garbage, IMO) > > If you want to pay for a decent one, ClamXAV is inobtrusive, low on > resource use and flexible. > > <http://www.clamxav.com> It used to be shareware now it’s commercial, $30 > for any computer you own. ($21 if either of you are associated with an EDU > institution) > > My University provides us with Sophos Antivirus, which is also not > half-bad, but requires an annual subscription. > > As our UA policy (especially in a college that routinely deals with > HIPAA-protected data) requires that all computers, regardless of OS run > some sort of antivirus, I’ve gotten ClamXAv, mainly because it lets me > manually scan any mounted volume or folder, whereas Sophos only protects > the boot volume. Since I have to routinely mount ‘foreign' disks this is > useful. > > But any antivirus or antimalware software is necessarily reactive; they > only protect against threats they know of, and most of the current threats > aren’t viruses, but ransomware, keyloggers to steal banking credentials, > and ‘fake antivirus’ offers. > > Apple’s taken some big strides ‘under the hood’ in 10.11 and 10.12 in > locking down and protecting the system to guard against this kind of thing, > too, as a proactive step…even root doesn’t have access to some parts of the > OS without special authentication being provided, but your userland files > are susceptible to ransomware encryption. Fortunately none of the known > variants are currently able to encrypt Time Machine volumes, so it’s not a > major deal for Mac users if you’re backing up your stuff. > > Vigilance against the phishing (and they’re ALWAYS phishing emails, no > matter how official they sound), and keeping good backups are, in the end, > better than any anti-malware solution, and it sounds like your wife is well > versed in the ‘delete key’ method of dealing with them :-) > > Backing up your stuff is important, because drive failure, computer > failure, damage or theft is much more likely than a malware infection. > > -- > Bruce Johnson > University of Arizona > College of Pharmacy > Information Technology Group > > Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs > Russell Courtenay <unknownid...@gmail.com>: Nov 18 09:46AM -0700 > > Great info for all of us especially coming from a professional > environment, Bruce, thanks. > > Priorities are important in data security. Even on Windows the only virus > I ever had was the 'kak.worm' many years ago, and it didn't infect anything > because I was still using text only for my email. It was interesting > dissecting it to figure out how it worked, a very complex combination of > programming languages as I recall. (I got kicked off a JavaScript forum for > asking too many questions about how the kak.worm worked, I guess they > thought I was dangerous!) > > I have had several hard drive failures though, I still have one with 9 > months of data stuck on it that needs a new main board to resurrect it, so > for me at least, hardware problems are the more immediate threat. > > This modern ransomware threat is scary, I have a separate, removable > external hard drive for weekly backup for this reason on the PC server, > just wish I could get Windows to recognize the mirrored raid on the main > drive! > > Well, I wish I could get the wife to agree to work on MacOS, it was setup > as a Hackintosh but I removed MacOS as it was an additional layer of > complication she didn't want and a Hackintosh is not always stable > either.... > > Russell Courtenay > > Sent from my iPhone > > "N. Shani" <nshani...@gmail.com>: Nov 18 01:16PM -0500 > > Bill et al, > > The ISP is NOT doing its job! I work for one (local, not-for-profit) and we > educate our members to ensure that their OS firewalls are up, run a test to > see if any router ports are accessible from the outside (we use > https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2, but I'm sure there are other test > site that do the same), and most importantly, ensure that not only is the > OS updated, but also the combo modem/router! (DSL or cable). > > A few years ago it was found that a commonly used freeware (Allegro's > RomPager) was embedded in many combo modems/routers had a flaw (see > http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/561444) since 2002(!) that got fixed in > 2005 > but was never implemented. It took a CERT announcement to force the > manufacturer's of all affected units to issue a firmware fix. > So, we announce it on our web page and invited members to either do the > update themselves or we'll do it for them. Your ISP should be on the > lookout for such things. > > The ISP should be able to implement spam filters - and some are free (I > know because we are cheap), but in general spam is a pain to deal with - > the spammers are not sitting idle. > Aside from the ISP doing its required filtering, you could implement some > filtering of your own, if the messages are can grouped so that the filters > (rules) can do what you intend to do. Takes some time and experimenting, > and may not be foolproof - some spam will get through. > > Hope this and the other messages help you. Cheers, Naftali > > On 18 November 2016 at 09:02, Bill Spencer <wspen...@jhu.edu> wrote: > > Hi there: My wife has lately been getting spam emails, allegedly from her > "Bruce Johnson" <john...@pharmacy.arizona.edu>: Nov 18 06:17PM > > On Nov 18, 2016, at 9:46 AM, Russell Courtenay <unknownid...@gmail.com< > mailto:unknownid...@gmail.com>> wrote: > > > This modern ransomware threat is scary, I have a separate, removable > external hard drive for weekly backup for this reason on the PC server, > just wish I could get Windows to recognize the mirrored raid on the main > drive! > > > Yep we’ve gotten bitten by ransomware here, our main file server was hit; > fortunately the user account involved only had access to one workgroup > directory. It was a big one though and they were impacted pretty heavily > for the nearly 12 hours it took us to restore from tape. > > It was educational for them; and prompted a few questions like: > > "What would happen if this happened to my home computer?” > “You would have to pay the ransom, or just restore your latest backup. You > DO have a latest backup don’t you?” > “Oooohhhhhh” > > :-) > > -- > Bruce Johnson > University of Arizona > College of Pharmacy > Information Technology Group > > Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs > Back to top <#m_1115254456221622654_digest_top> > You received this digest because you're subscribed to updates for this > group. 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