Spyware/Spyware Killer for Macs?

With all this talk about spyware and worms and stuff on the PC platform, I have to wonder about the situation for Macs? I've been using Macs since 1991 and have never had a serious virus, worm or hijack situation. having said that, how do I know if there is spyware on my computer? I use an 800MHz half-ball i-mac.

Thanks,
Wilkey

at this particular moment there isn't any. even programs like file sharing utilities that install this stuff on the PC side don't have it in their Mac counterparts yet. They either decide that the development is too difficult or just not worth it for the amount of people using it.

That will almost certainly change in the future, but today you don't have to worry about it.

A nasty fellow could make a Mac worm program that sent email around just like the PC ones, but it would always have to be a trojan to get you to click on it. And none of the mail clients I've used over the years would run an application that pretended to be something else without alerting you. I tested it. This is still true. So unless you're particularly careless you're safe there also, for now.

There is no visual basic scripting built into mail clients on macOS, so it's considerably more difficult to embed code to do anything. Even impossible to use some of the most often used exploits in Windows. So a Trojan is the only way, or to get you to run the thing as part of an installer like for the file sharing utilities.

But also, how MacOS handles running processes is different. They could give themselves a pleasing name so that you might not recognize them in the process list output, but they can't hide any better than that. Any piece of software on your machine you don't want there is only a kill statement away from being stopped. It's much harder to hide them in there.

There will come a time when some of this exists, for now just exercise normal internet hygiene and you will have no trouble. Watch this space for developments in the future /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif If you like you can turn on the software firewall that is built into OSX. I would not recommend any other virius scanning or firewall solutions at this time.

This is the basic chronology with how spyware infested the PC market.

First, spyware began as a part of value priced software packages. Things like E-Games on CD at ridiculously low prices began appearing on retailers shelves. E-Games could market it as a bargain, since they also received a kickback from the market researchers and advertising agents utilizing the data being sent to them from the user's computers.

Second, shareware products began offering ad-ware as an alternative to paying for registration. The user agreed to the ads, and could use the software without paying. What the user didn't realize is that their activity was being logged and sent to market researchers and advertising agents.

Third, the ability to trick net users into permitting the installation of their package or simply making use of non-secure browser features and such enabled them to reach millions more. This permitted them to install without consent, and often without the user's knowledge.

I'd be surprised to find that Mac has escaped such marketing techniques, since it's not as much a security issue as it is a privacy issue, from the marketing aspect. It shouldn't be confused with the realm of hacker's trojans, but the ethics are still lacking.

Thanks guys!

Wilkey

One of the things you've got to look out for is program that "phones home" when installed and sends to the company details of your computer and the installed program. Using a small utility called "Little Snitch" will prevent this. http://www.obdev.at/

I use LittleSnitch and recommend it. Even if you don't mind software checking for updates, you may want to say when, to conserve the bandwidth it's grabbing. Their mailing list mentions they know of one app (which they don't name) that tries to disable LittleSnitch; so the arms race is going on with Macs as well.

There is a spyware searching app (MacScan, maybe? I forget) -- its most recent beta expired a few weeks ago and they haven't released a new version as of yesterday. Try searching at macfixit.com for 'spyware' every now and then.

The good advice given several places about always watching for the trickery and treachery is all true. There are plenty of companies that believe they own the networks all the way out through your eyeballs to your brain, and have the right to install anything they want anywhere they can get to.

Note the double meaning in the nickname for the recent US legislation -- the "Can Spam" law. It's funny how they tell the truth -- why do they spam? because they can! -- it legitimizes spamming by the companies that are big enough to pay for the government they want.

Here are some forums that are dedicated to security and such. I think that there will be some Mac help there. I hope.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/
http://www.hazeleger.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php

Good Luck.
Jerry

Of the 3 levels of spyware that Empath notes, the first 2 are certainly available for the Mac. There are add driven applications, and add driven applications that probably collect and send back information. however, many perfectly valid applications make a connection to their server when you register the app to validate your serial number and if you block them with little snitch they won't validate. This is being used increasingly by larger and smaller software companies to stop piracy. The reputable ones like adobe tell you that you have to be connected to the internet to send the info back and others will even pop up a window showing you exactly what information it wants to send so that you can decide to use the software or not.

There is no security risk by allowing them to do this unless you are really using a pirate serial number in which case the software wont work for you.

There are other applications that do this and don't tell you about it. I have a problem with this. I build "automatic update" checkers into my apps, but I don't record anything about you other than the version number that was asking about updates at the server so that it knows what to send back. It is easy to verify what is being sent back and forth with any of the network sniffer apps if you really dont trust something.

But then, if you really don't trust something, perhaps you better not use that software at all. After all, if they are so crooked as to steal your demographics and send it back without you're knowing about it, how useful and safe is the rest of their software going to be.

If you find that a software developer is collecting information that thye are not telling you about I would definitely send that to any of the Mac security boards. That kind of thing may not be grounds for a lawsuit, but it definitely makes for bad PR and especially in the smaller Mac community a lot of companies really rely on those same Mac news websites for getting their PR releases out. You can shut them down if they do bad things.

There is 1 and only 1 app that claimed to remove Mac spyware apps. I got a laugh reading their description of the software because it is so very vague and doesn't specifically list any known spyware, because there isn't any third level known spyware.

If you agree to use a file sharing utility for free and it wants to show you adds then thats what you agreed to, but as soon as it starts to collect other information about you and what you do and if it keeps running after you've stopped running that software then I would consider that a great risk and beyond the scope of anything I would agree to. I used Eudora in it's add supported mode for quite a while in the past, it was only mildly annoying and I did scan what they were sending back and forth and it was nothing beyond asking for new add images to display. So just because it's doing something doesn't mean it's bad.

If you can find an app that collects the kind of information on your Mac that Empath notes in his third level, by all means make it known as you'll be the first to find it.