duffy1987

Q: MacBook Pro has been hacked. What next?

Hi there,

 

I am very supsicious my MacBook Pro has been hacked.  What next?

 

Symptoms (in chronological order, all within a two-hour period):

 

1. Would not enter sleep mode upon commanded (screen went black, then came back on just as quickly).

2. Then discovered that the letter 'p' did not work on my keyboard. The only way top enter this letter in text was by COMMAND + COPY and then pasting it.

3. Once I did this, the letter 'p' would appear any time I typed the letter 'o'.  It is now doing it with other letters, too.  In real time, it looks sompething likpe this.

4. Decided to restart.  Upon doing so, my saved password changed on the screen right before my very eyes (it is saved on the startup page).  I could not backspace, or use COMMAND + X to delete.  Finally got a blank field (don't remember how), and (stupidly?) entered my usual password.

5. Once back in, the same problems continued (or got worse).

6. I then shut down the machine.  Same issues upon restart.

 

Actions:

 

1. Ran avast scan.  No infections found.

2. Downloaded ClamXav.  As cautioned, I performed a full backup before running a scan.  When I connected my external hard drive, it too behaved in an odd way, but I finally managed a full backup.

3. Then ran ClamXav scan.  No infections found.

 

Questions:

 

1. Given that I have taken what I think are the appropriate steps, what now?  The password change that I did not initiate concerns me most, but why my keyboard is acting so strangely remains very puzzling.

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on May 3, 2014 12:38 PM

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Q: MacBook Pro has been hacked. What next?

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  • by duffy1987,

    duffy1987 duffy1987 May 6, 2014 9:17 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2014 9:17 AM in response to Linc Davis

    unfortunately, i ran out of hours last night to do a second backup (with disk utility), and so did not erase and install.

     

    i did power off, however, and upon startup this morning, my login field was gloriously blank!  moreover, i am now able to type the letter 'p' without error, in several applications.

     

    the only change i made yesterday before powering off was the uninstall of avast!  is it fair to conclude that this was the culprit?

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 6, 2014 9:58 AM in response to duffy1987
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    May 6, 2014 9:58 AM in response to duffy1987

    It wouldn't surprise me too much if "Avast" caused any kind of problem. It's worse than the imaginary "viruses" that it wouldn't protect against, even if they existed.

  • by itho84,

    itho84 itho84 May 6, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc,

     

    Pardon this off-topic reply. I saw your post on a different thread regarding slow login times. Would you mind taking a quick look at my console bootlog?

  • by duffy1987,

    duffy1987 duffy1987 May 6, 2014 11:48 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2014 11:48 AM in response to Linc Davis

    consider this a lesson learned.  years of PC ownership will do that, i suppose.

     

    may i presume that i do not need to go ahead with the erase and install of OS X (unless, of course, the problems return)?  i'd obviously like to avoid it if i can.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis May 6, 2014 12:00 PM in response to duffy1987
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    May 6, 2014 12:00 PM in response to duffy1987

    If everything works now, you don't need to do anything else.

  • by duffy1987,

    duffy1987 duffy1987 May 6, 2014 12:14 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2014 12:14 PM in response to Linc Davis

    feeling a bit sheepish about my original (screaming) thread title, but i've certainly learned a lot from this process.  thanks very much for all your help -- greatly appreciated.

  • by MadMacs0,

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 6, 2014 12:19 PM in response to itho84
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 6, 2014 12:19 PM in response to itho84

    itho84 wrote:

     

    Hi Linc,

    Note that Linc rarely responds to requests such as this.

     

    Your best bet would be to start a new discussion and fully describe the problems you are having.

  • by itho84,

    itho84 itho84 May 6, 2014 12:21 PM in response to MadMacs0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2014 12:21 PM in response to MadMacs0

    OK, thank you.

  • by MadMacs0,

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 6, 2014 1:12 PM in response to duffy1987
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 6, 2014 1:12 PM in response to duffy1987

    duffy1987 wrote:

     

    the only change i made yesterday before powering off was the uninstall of avast!  is it fair to conclude that this was the culprit?

    That is really surprising. You may recall that I mentioned early on that there were some issues with Avast!, but I never would have immagined that it was implicated in your issues. Especially considering that some of it cleared up with an external keyboard.

     

    Glad you finally got eveything back to normal.

  • by duffy1987,

    duffy1987 duffy1987 May 6, 2014 5:09 PM in response to MadMacs0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2014 5:09 PM in response to MadMacs0

    That is really surprising. You may recall that I mentioned early on that there were some issues with Avast!, but I never would have immagined that it was implicated in your issues.

     

    surprising is certainly the word for it!  i guess i'm just relieved that it wasn't anything more serious.  i do indeed recall your alert about the avast! issue, and the two links you provided were most helpful. 

     

    i'm new to this community (as if you couldn't tell!), so i apologise for not being able to reward you with points.  i didn't realise the limitations until after the fact.  i certainly owe you one (or ten, as it were).

     

    thanks again for your time and trouble, MadMacs0.  i am most grateful.

  • by MadMacs0,

    MadMacs0 MadMacs0 May 6, 2014 5:15 PM in response to duffy1987
    Level 5 (4,801 points)
    May 6, 2014 5:15 PM in response to duffy1987

    duffy1987 wrote:


    i'm new to this community (as if you couldn't tell!), so i apologise for not being able to reward you with points.

    You are quite welcome, but I'm not really a point collector, so don't give that another thought.

  • by tech$1,

    tech$1 tech$1 Oct 10, 2015 10:47 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 10, 2015 10:47 AM in response to Linc Davis

    To Linc Davis:

     

    Sorry, this is not a Mac and technical question, just a curious observation. Noticed your profile picture is an uncanny resemblance to Emmanuel Kant .

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