Delete This Account Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Folks, got a question here. My wife believes her computer, an IMac, here at home may have been hacked somehow because several of her friends received some email from her address about some Romanian land deal or something. Goofy thing is, I didn't get this email, though I'm in her address book. Now it's possible that the AP filter may have blocked it before it got to me. That said, she's now afraid that the computer has been compromised and sensitive information may have gotten out. Trouble is, after doing some reading, I can't seem to find either a way to determine whether this has happened or whether whatever infiltrator still has access to this machine. There's no Spybot or Adaware scan that I can find that's designed for Macs. I've loaded in "Little Snitch" but that seems to tell me only what's going out and through what port, and lord knows if I can tell if any of this is right and/or wrong. Um, any thoughts for someone who's more accustomed to dealing with viruses and cleaning them out on a non-Mac machine. Hitting the sack, and will check in later. Thanks in advance. jw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) It sounds like her email was compromised. I have had it happen on a very old inactive email, and known many who have had it happen to them, as well. She should, at the least, change her passwords on anything important. If this the case, her password stolen, the hacker can go in to her email and see where she gets emails from where they will then go to sites in the email and use the same or similar passwords, like eBay, Amazon, etc. Edited November 9, 2012 by jboyst62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Folks, got a question here. Um, any thoughts for someone who's more accustomed to dealing with viruses and cleaning them out on a non-Mac machine. Hitting the sack, and will check in later. Thanks in advance. jw Contact Tim Graham. That guy knows everything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I agree with jboyst, it just sounds like the e-mail account has been compromised. Change the password on that as well as PayPal, eBay, etc. if they're at all connected to that account. There are several antivirus programs for Mac out there that scan for spyware and the like. I suggest you check them out. Some of them work to eliminate threats to Windows machines as well, so if you run Boot Camp or something your machine is completely protected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dib Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I had the same problem with my e-mail on my PC. Changing the password seemed to fix the problem. Also, make sure you sign out after each session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delete This Account Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 thanks all -- 'cept for Beerball of course she's changed that password and a few others. will do a little more reading to see what spyware stuff is out there. any good suggestions? jw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaattMaann Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I hope they bought up that Romanian land!!!!! I heard its going cheap now and will sell for a fortune in just a few months! Got one of these emails a month back and bought up all the land that I could with my meager savings.....hope to be the biggest vassal in all of Romania by 2013....keep your fingers crossed for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhg Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 thanks all -- 'cept for Beerball of course she's changed that password and a few others. will do a little more reading to see what spyware stuff is out there. any good suggestions? jw You don't need any extra add ons for spyware for the mac. Just be sure to regularly do the security updates from Apple as they become available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delete This Account Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 You don't need any extra add ons for spyware for the mac. Just be sure to regularly do the security updates from Apple as they become available. trouble is, we've got an older IMac, running OS 10.5, in which there are no more security updates. and this is the problem i have with Apple, their products last so long that -- and my wife is perfectly content with what this computer can handle -- that she's not wanted to buy a new one. jw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 I had the same problem with my e-mail on my PC. Changing the password seemed to fix the problem. Also, make sure you sign out after each session. Same thing here as well. Changed the password and log out after reading email has solved the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 You don't need any extra add ons for spyware for the mac. Just be sure to regularly do the security updates from Apple as they become available. You keep telling yourself that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 You keep telling yourself that. LoL... Give 'em H Fez... iSheeple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 You keep telling yourself that. More useless commentary. Shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Folks, got a question here. My wife believes her computer, an IMac, here at home may have been hacked somehow because several of her friends received some email from her address about some Romanian land deal or something. Goofy thing is, I didn't get this email, though I'm in her address book. Now it's possible that the AP filter may have blocked it before it got to me. That said, she's now afraid that the computer has been compromised and sensitive information may have gotten out. Trouble is, after doing some reading, I can't seem to find either a way to determine whether this has happened or whether whatever infiltrator still has access to this machine. There's no Spybot or Adaware scan that I can find that's designed for Macs. I've loaded in "Little Snitch" but that seems to tell me only what's going out and through what port, and lord knows if I can tell if any of this is right and/or wrong. Um, any thoughts for someone who's more accustomed to dealing with viruses and cleaning them out on a non-Mac machine. Hitting the sack, and will check in later. Thanks in advance. jw I wouldn't be concerned. This is an example of social engineering by spammers. They know that users will more likely trust an email from a friend than a stranger, so they forge the From: field. It is more likely that there is a virus on her friend's windows machine and the spammer is just pairing up random email addresses from that machine than hers. Are all of these friends common friends? Would all of their addresses be on each others machines? With that said, Apple has stopped supporting Leopard with security updates. So you depending on your surfing habits, you may or not be at risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Folks, got a question here. My wife believes her computer, an IMac, here at home may have been hacked somehow because several of her friends received some email from her address about some Romanian land deal or something. Goofy thing is, I didn't get this email, though I'm in her address book. Now it's possible that the AP filter may have blocked it before it got to me. That said, she's now afraid that the computer has been compromised and sensitive information may have gotten out. Trouble is, after doing some reading, I can't seem to find either a way to determine whether this has happened or whether whatever infiltrator still has access to this machine. There's no Spybot or Adaware scan that I can find that's designed for Macs. I've loaded in "Little Snitch" but that seems to tell me only what's going out and through what port, and lord knows if I can tell if any of this is right and/or wrong. Um, any thoughts for someone who's more accustomed to dealing with viruses and cleaning them out on a non-Mac machine. Hitting the sack, and will check in later. Thanks in advance. jw Are these e mails showing up in her sent file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 More useless commentary. Shocking. Fine, how's this: http://www.neowin.ne...acintosh-botnet And this: http://www.neowin.ne...-than-flashback And this: http://www.neowin.ne...oft-in-security Heck, even Apple themselves changed their tune: http://www.neowin.ne...mune-to-viruses Better? (and I didn't write a single one of those articles - SHOCKING! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jauronimo Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 trouble is, we've got an older IMac, running OS 10.5, in which there are no more security updates. and this is the problem i have with Apple, their products last so long that -- and my wife is perfectly content with what this computer can handle -- that she's not wanted to buy a new one. jw Wow, running outdated versions of OSX is horribly not hip, and tragically not cool. How is she going to be one of those happy dancing silhouettes running f@#$ing HouseCat? She needs to SuperEndangeredSnowTigerFromSpace if she is ever to be a creative individual who is eco-friendly and drinks the trendiest coffee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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