I’m pretty sure everyone has dealt with malware at some point in their lives, especially given the prominence of desktop and laptops that people are using more and more.
As a tech person, malware is like my arch-nemesis. I know its weakness, but it never seems to go away! So today I’m going to go over a few common malwares on Mac that people may not know are actually bad for their computer or just plain unnecessary!
1. MacKeeper
MacKeeper is the #1 unnecessary program. MacKeeper and is essentially a placebo! It pretends to be helping your computer out by “scanning” it and telling you if you have “threats” but most of the time the “threats” are just normal files! MacKeeper seems to have a pretty convincing setup that can lure unsuspecting consumers into a false sense of security and make it seem like downloading the software is a benefit, when in reality it’s superfluous! MacKeeper is typically downloaded from pop-ups on various websites found on the web. MacKeeper is a very invasive malware, meaning it can mess with your entire operating system on a deep level.
2. Mac Defender
Mac Defender is probably one of the worst malwares. It constantly pops up telling you that you have “threats” and telling you to delete files when actually, your computer is fine…except you have this malware called Mac Defender! This one is actually a phishing scam. This software is not as much of a threat thanks to security updates from Apple, however I have still seen it on customer’s computers. It comes from a legitimate website advertisement that redirects people to Mac Defender, saying their computer is “infected”, and offers itself as a “solution” when in actuality it is the root of the problem! The goal of this malware was to steal people’s credit card information, which can be used for fraud! Not fun at all, to say the least.
3. Dok
Dok is a rather new piece of malware. This malware was extremely scary until Apple managed to block it out. One of the reasons people purchase Macs is because they tend to get viruses a lot less than Windows computers. This is a perfectly legitimate claim because Macs have built-in security measures not only in the software that is used to develop the operating system (macOS) but also has security features built in from Apple! So don’t worry, your Mac is double wrapped! However this particular piece of software was a direct result of hackers. The hackers in question managed to gain access to a legitimate Apple developer’s account and have this particular piece of software authenticated by Apple! Essentially this software was allowed by Apple to be installed on people’s computers, and the way it was spreading was through an email phishing campaign, pretending to be Apple and attempting to steal the victim’s information. Don’t be scared though, Apple has since fixed that and revoked the software’s authentication so it is blocked by Apple’s built-in security measures as of a few months ago!
Thank you for reading!