Far too many times a day I hear the complaint, “I was just browsing the web and all of a sudden something popped up on my screen telling me my computer was infected and told me to call a number for support in order to clean it out!” Ring a bell? Maybe you or someone you know has experienced this. Many users go so far as to allow remote access from a support representative when they called because the person on the other end ensures them they will fix their computer. Often times remote-control support software is installed and the support person will start moving the cursor, opening applications and typing things in the terminal and navigating to strange websites. This leaves the user feeling as though whatever was claimed to be wrong with their computer is being fixed. Unfortunately, in many cases, it’s a form of a scam to get you to agree to some one time fee to resolve the issue or maybe get you to agree to a monthly fee for monitoring designed to ensure your machine is never infected again. While in many cases this software does provide some minimal support, the bottom line is, your computer is never going to provide you with a phone number to call from a company you haven’t signed up with for security monitoring.
Unless YOU installed the software this is just a crafty form of malware designed to get some money from you. As Mac users, we aren’t plagued as much as Windows PCs by actual trojans and viruses but that doesn’t mean all users of Apple hardware can’t be annoyed by spyware and malware. Even iPads and iPhones have been known to get these kinds of pop-ups that are often a form of ransomware making the user feel like they have to pay a fee to gain access to their devices.
Apple holds itself to a very high standard when it comes to protecting it’s user’s privacy in many ways and does everything they can to protect your personal data. You have multiple levels of protection on your side like FileVault encryption and a solid pre-configured firewall on your side. You’ve got intelligent pop-up blockers and security warnings built into not only Safari but most industry standard browsers. You have the ability to block cookies and disable flash on websites, block any unidentified apps from running, clear your cache and browsing history. Even reinstall your entire operating system if it comes to that, these are tools provided with EVERY Apple desktop and laptop and have been for years upon years.
No one can completely guarantee your machine won’t become “infected” by these kinds of intrusive programs. Browsing the web and using social media is inherently dangerous for all kinds of reasons, but you can use best practices to try and avoid these issues. Sure, we can recommend that you install an Ad-Blocker and reset your browser often, making sure to delete any unauthorized extensions you may have unknowingly allowed in. You can run apps like MalwareBytes, CCleaner or ClamXAV among others to automatically remove known adware and malware. These are all stop-gap measures, your best defense is taking a moment to evaluate before you make a call, click or open an e-mail. There is still no better defense than second guessing and not opening something you are unsure of.
Some folks use TOR, VPNs or a combination of the two to abstract their location from the servers they’re trying to access. Apple always recommends you keep updating your system when updates come out to ensure you have their latest security measures and vulnerabilities patched. We have started providing our Adware Removal service as a response to a large number of concerned users after having fallen victim to some of these instances of unknowing allowing someone unknown to access their computer and helping provide them with peace of mind that their data and information is once again secure. We hope that the time comes we don’t need to offer these services, but, as computers evolve so will ways to catch folks off guard!