A “legitimate” google ad tricked my friend into installing a version of vlc with spyware packed with it. This was a few years ago. Are tech journos just figuring this out?
Definitely sounds like it wouldn’t and hasn’t gotten anywhere on Linux or Windows. And if we look at the authors page we can see they may have some deep bias going on. You may want to block articles by them preemptively.
Probably because windows and Linux users aren’t searching for free Mac apps. While I agree that it would probably be difficult to implement an attack like this for Linux (partly because it’s Linux and partly because it’s userbase is generally more technically apt), Windows has been susceptible to viruses since the dawn of time because users just install random shit on autopilot and click through installers without checking what extra bloat is included (which is often malware disguised as an extra third party program). I don’t think I agree that this specifically is Apples fault. No one blames Windows or Linux distros for user error and poor security practices.
Google’s fault for not vetting the ads they let through? For sure. The users fault for not paying attention while installing the app and just clicking through the request to bypass Gatekeeper and then entering their system password when a pop up randomly asks for it for no discernible reason? Absolutely.
What should Apple do to fix this? Lock the machine down to the point where users aren’t allowed to have admin privileges on their own machine?
Actually it seems you may have made some mistakes in researching causes of viruses. Viruses have infected Windows machines more in the past as it is a larger target, there are far far more Windows users than Apple and Linux users by a large large margin which means you have a higher target for your attack. MacOS makes up about 7% of the operating system market at its peak and Linux hovers are 2-3% so planning a virus to affect one is not a great idea unless… Microsoft’s security started to become so strong that malware developers now have to seek the open vulnerabilities (see op). Since that’s not understood we can move on
As far as the article indicates the ad itself was not actually a Google fault whatsoever, it actually appears as a Google ad though. The malware itself is installed by other means entirely but the user themselves, the relation to Google here is that the malware already installed on the machine disguises itself as a Google ad. Really, honestly, read the article next time. This is 100% standard malware attack on an unprotected system.
I’m not sure where I said anything about the reason any of those platforms get viruses because you’re right, Windows was often more targeted because its footprint was massive by comparison (whole lotta end users out there, but also tons of domain controllers and enterprise systems running it) - I’m not arguing that.
AMOS itself is distributed in all kinds of ways including phishing, being bundled into crap no-name software, shady ads, tainted torrents, whatever. You still have to be tricked into downloading whatever it is that infects your machine with it.
As to this partially being Google’s fault, from the article itself:
The ads are legitimate and paid for but disguise themselves as the website or software the user is searching for.
In the given example, it sounds like the ad was for Trading View, a pretty popular stock market charting platform, but the ad itself took users to trabingviews.com and it looked like a clone or Trading View’s site or some kind of landing page that purported to be a download for a desktop client. In the Malwarebytes article I share below, the fake URL purporting to be Trading View’s website is actually tradingsview.com
I’m not exactly sure where you’re getting the idea that this was a fake ad caused by malware pre-existing. These are “legit” Google ads that are bought and paid for and not quality checked by Google before they display them.
Here’s the article directly from Malwarebytes, the folks who kindly did the write up the author of the above article is talking about:
My guy, I don’t know what you want from me. A Google ad is purchased in a legitimate manner, but the ad itself actually links to a page where you download malware.
You answered really fast, so you clearly didn’t read the actual source material I linked at the bottom - specifically the Distribution section.
It was already explained in the original article. It’s not what you want to believe but it is the actual situation and I’m not gonna spend forever writing a response because it won’t actually change the fact of you reading things
The “original” article is the one I linked - the one written by the actual security researchers at MalwareBytes who did the research on this malware and then provided the detailed write up (which is what security researchers do). The one shared in the OP is referencing that article.
But it’s all good. All you had to do was tell me you can’t read and I would’ve backed out of this thread like 2 responses ago. :) Have a great night!
Explicitly by the users negligence, same as any negligent user installing some freeware on windows and ending up with BonziBuddy and 34 search bars in their browser. Or alternately, by clicking “Ignore” on on an alert in their AV and proceeding with the installation anyway.
Sure but actually no as that literally wouldn’t be able to happen on windows. Windows will immediately quarantine any flagged files and they won’t be able to launch without the user having to jump through some rather extravagant hoops. Since you mentioned bonzibuddy and search bars I’m gonna go ahead and assume you haven’t looked at a Windows PC in the last 15 or more years so I guess that would explain your misunderstanding on this subject
My main PC is a windows PC (mainly for video games and music production). I also have a Macbook for my work as a (currently) Lead Systems Automation Engineer for a large global company (14 years in the industry, 3.5 of those was me “taking a break” and going into Infosec specifically to first do endpoint/end-user security, then moving into container and cloud security) a personal Macbook, as well as a few Linux laptops I use to write code and do other tech-related things because I prefer MacOS and Linux for that kind of work. I’m well-exposed to most operating systems and have a working knowledge of how security works, both in a professional setting as well as a personal one.
I mention BonziBuddy and search bars because they’re funny and to illustrate a simple point. The reality is that browser hijackers still very much exist (though they’re not as prevalent as they used to be because browsers themselves have become more resilient over the years - nowadays, they’re usually found in add-ons/extensions because its easier to fly under the radar that way).
For all the shady shit I’ve done on all of the above platforms, I’ve never had an issue. Specifically in Windows, Defender - which is still the de facto/standard security tool that comes bundled with Windows under the Windows Security tool suite - has not once flagged malware for me. I’ve found it with Avast and BitDefender, but Windows Defender simply isn’t great for the things I do.
I also run ClamAV on the Macbook for ad-hoc scanning of things I download prior to running them. Why? Because I’m not a negligent user and I do at least the bare minimum in regards to good security practices.
In every one of the above cases/operating systems/platforms, there is always some kind of security tooling or framework involved (whether that’s ClamAV on Mac, BitDefender or ClamAV or MalwareBytes or whatever on Windows, SELinux or AppArmor or ClamAV on Linux) that can and should be leveraged if you really want to be “safe.”
In the case of AMOS and Macs, users are purposely bypassing Gatekeeper and proceeding without knowing wtf they’re installing. As soon as Gatekeeper pops up like that, you should be on alert unless you know the software you’re installing isn’t signed, trust the source, and are willing to codesign it yourself.
You, on the other hand, clearly seem to have some kind of gripe against Macs (based off of your comments in this now far-too-long comment thread) and that kind of weird quasi-religious brand loyalty (or hatred) is a thing I’ll never understand.
The fact that you’re out on a public forum, spewing bad info/misinformation really says everything. Not that you care, but I’d have respected you more if you just admitted you were wrong and misread the bit about the Google ads. Instead, you decided to be confidently dumb and jump from hill to hill, prepared to die on each one of them.
I mean that’s a lot of words to summarize you didn’t really get what’s going on. End result there is still no grounds on which to blame Google for any of this and the only one responsible here for protecting the user is Apple. No real way to slice it otherwise but I’ll tell you this much, nobody is asking you to defend the biggest company in the world.
I’m not defending shit and frankly, I give up. That “a lot of words to summarize” was an offer of my credentials and experience doing engineering and information security work and you clearly showed, once again, that no one ever actually taught you how to read.
You’re either incredibly stupid or trolling for responses and I’m not interested in dealing with either any further.
Yeah you blathered on about nonsense telling me your life story as if it matters. It doesn’t, you can’t try and throw weight around trying to say you have a more legitimate background and understanding and then be absolutely wrong about something. It’s goddam insane, and you should feel bad for trying to manipulate people, it’s not going to work with me but there are plenty of other people who do read the comments and you are doing nothing more than being manipulative. So STOP
Alright, quiet down, dummy. Conversation’s over and the only thing you’ll find by continuing to come back here is me further insulting you for not being able to read a simple sentence, understand it, and then getting all pissy about it when someone calls you on it. Go find an actual Apple fanboy to pull your shit with.
I hate to be the one to point this out for you but, I’m not the one getting pissy. I also have resorted to insulting people. Maybe it’s time for you to reflect on this and take a break
I haven’t been subscribed to this community for long. I feel every apple-critical comment gets downvoted a lot, suggesting this is more of an apple_blind_fandom than an apple enthusiast community.
Why can’t we critically object to elements of things we like? Thanks for your comments, I think adding nuance and counterarguments (in a respectful way) adds to this community.
This is a really poor example of a comment to highlight an apple bias. The parent commenter is objectively wrong on the topic; OSX security is similar to Linux security.
Thanks for pointing it out, I am a noob in technology so have no diea.
My point about a very strong bias still stands due to all kinds of experiences in the past though. As I said - I really think in general it is good to even be critical of products we are really fond of.
The problem is there’s nothing to criticize Apple about here. The notion that it’s Apple’s fault that people are writing malware targeting macOS is just as stupid as it being Google’s fault that people are writing Android malware. It comes across as misguided “I hate Apple”-ism that adds nothing of substance to the discussion and intrinsically can’t be discussed without it turning into some shit-flinging argument. (case in point: the 18+ comment chain that resulted)
That’s why those comments are downvoted: people are using the feature as intended to hide the visibility of low effort troll garbage. You’ll find there are plenty of threads here with people genuinely criticizing Apple and their comments are upvoted just fine.
7% is percent market sale. Not sales. Mac’s have very rapid EOL as you can’t update to newer versions for reasons of revenue so you will so you will actually see more older PCs running than anything and with Mac’s declining sales you will see fewer and fewer as time goes on especially since Intel mac’s are losing support already
No, current Macs May have rapid EOL but prior to 2015 Macs were much more upgradable and lasted longer than comparable PCs. The 20% market share was during that period.
Got it. You don’t know how to read, are too stubborn to admit you’re wrong, and are actively lying in responses. You shouldn’t be saying anything about bias…
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