Possibly Fake Adoble Download Prompt

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Level 1

34 points

Possibly Fake Adoble Download Prompt

I was closing down browser tabs and quitting programs, and I saw a window saying I should download something from Adobe. I sound vague because unfortunately I wasn't paying close attention.

And unfortunately, I was rushing and not acting intelligently. I quickly tried to exit the window, but all three "buttons" on the upper left, for exiting, minimizing, etc., were greyed out.

So I clicked Download, not being suspicious. Then the thing disappeared, I could hear the disk spinning, but I got no feedback. That's when I began to worry that I had been presented with a fake download prompt and that something malicious may be happening in the background.

I checked Activity Monitor and didn't see anything strange. I checked downloads and there was nothing there. That worried me a bit.

I had been using Firefox, and I checked to see if any new extensions were added, and there wasn't.

I googled around a bit and see that there have been many fake Flash download prompts, so I wonder if that's what I clicked on.

I'm running a Webroot SecureAnywhere virus/malware scan. So far it's clean, but I'm thinking fresh new malware would probably look invisible to that.

My question is, does this sound like something to worry about? If so, what are some good steps to take, in addition to what I'm already doing, to see if I was duped by something bad, and fix the situation?

Thanks much!

- David

Posted on Jan 21, 2020 7:25 PM

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Answer 1

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John Galt

Level 10

141,362 points

Jan 21, 2020 8:28 PM in response to David Weiss

Beware bogus Adobe Flash "installers"

The only thing to be worried about is "Webroot". It may prove difficult to eradicate.

If so, what are some good steps to take, in addition to what I'm already doing,

Uninstall "Webroot", if you can, and then read Effective defenses against malware and other threats.

Back up your Mac as a matter of course. To learn how to use Time Machine please read Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac.

This may help: just uploaded to Catalina. Cannot get rid… - Apple Community

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

141,362 points

Jan 22, 2020 3:04 PM in response to David Weiss

Plenty of ill-mannered things will attempt to deceive you into downloading something you don't want, or will even automatically download something without your consent. However, they will be deposited into your Mac's Downloads folder (or whichever folder you designated in Safari's Preferences > General > File download location), but you didn't find anything there.

Even if that occurred, you would need to subsequently open and / or install it, which requires a separate and overt action on your part. So, there really isn't any reason for concern.

If you remain concerned anyway, and you aren't familiar with all the various places nefarious things like to hide, one tool to consider using is EtreCheck: Using EtreCheck - Apple Community. It requires no installation procedure and can just be dragged to the Trash when you're finished with it. Or, just leave it as is to be used in the future if you so choose. Unlike "Webroot" and similarly categorized things it functions strictly as a data-gathering and -reporting tool that does exactly nothing when you're not using it. Non-Apple "anti-virus" programs are not inert or free from harm, and increase a Mac's threat profile while an effective security strategy seeks to reduce it.

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Answer 3

David Weiss Author

Level 1

34 points

Jan 22, 2020 9:47 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks John. Actually Webroot has been very well behaved for quite a few years. Runs in the background, doesn't slow things up too badly. WSDaemon takes a modest percentage of the cpu. Interesting story, re the person who "uploaded to Catalina," but I have never had such problems with WSDaemon or Webroot. So if you say the only thing I have to worry about is Webroot, then I'm not worried.

Thanks for the link to your detailed piece on effective defenses. Thing is, I rather unintelligently clicked on "something." Not wise, and I know that. What it was, I don't rightly know. I don't have any known problems at the moment, but I wonder if I've got some nefarious thing "sleeping" on my computer.

Is there any way to find out?

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Possibly Fake Adoble Download Prompt

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