The best spyware/malware detection and removal solution in 2014?

Question

Level 1

18 points

The best spyware/malware detection and removal solution in 2014?

Lately I keep get odd little blips on my Mac screen when I open apps and or use various browsers. I uspect that spyware or some other malware somehow has been installed on my machine. I have since installed highly recommended always-on security apps like Avast and Avira and Kasperski for live filtering (thinking that what one does not catch another will) along run-only-on-command apps like BitDefender and ClamX (each catches items the other misses).

I am still seeing the little blips, if fewer than before, so I wonder if there is still some root level malware that has not yet been detected and removed.

I am looking for solutions.

One option is upgrading to Mavericks, but I still havesome criticval apps that are not yet Mavericks compliant, so that delays the upgrade.

Another option is wiping my disk, doing a clean reinstall of the OS, and re-installing apps one at a time (means I lose days of productivity as all get rebuilt).

Another option is finding and installing better spyware detection and removal app (or apps) than I have installed so far.

I searched the Apple support communities and found some older related posts, some going back to 2007 or 2009, which are not relevant today, such as the advice to use MacScan (no longer deemed a viable app), and the ongoing debate whether MacKeeper itself is malware.

I want feedback and suggestions for the hard realities of life on the net at the beginning of 2014. In answering my request, you might help thousands of other Mac users.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Mid-2010 MacBook Pro 15 inch

Posted on Jan 5, 2014 1:04 PM

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Answer 1

judahman Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 16, 2014 11:57 AM in response to thomas_r.

Again, my issue is NOT viruses, typical malware, or website tracking cookies, but illicitly installed spyware, which (IF it does exist on my Mac) may have been implanted via a break-in or by hacking our home WiFi firewall.

Apart from a few useful comments (and I have done my best to acknowledge the makers of such comments by name), I am not much further down the road than when I opened this thread.

I have re-read this whole thread. I see lots of side-conversations about javascript and other interesting but off-topic matters, and I see allusions to me being a Mac newbie (in fact, I've owned only Apple computers since the SE30), plus I see some sniping (even from me), and some one-upmanship here and there, but I see very little among four pages of comments addressing the core issue of detecting and deleting spyware.

Among those who do squarely address the spyware question, the responses are contradictory. As an example, one person recommends MacScan as mostly useless but still able to detect spyware that that other apps miss. Another person says that MacScan is totally useless for anything but playing Tinkerbell.

As for the other spyware evidence-detecting apps suggested -- EtreCheck and Little Snitch -- the only anomalies I found using them was an ocsp link to Digicert, which MadMacs0 said is innocuous. So, does this mean my Mac is free of spyware or that it simply has not been detected? I wish I knew.

The elephant in the room still remains in the room -- how can I reliably detect and delete spyware on my Mac? Let me modify the closing comment I made yesterday....

At this stage, I am left with five options, or a combo of these options:

Earn the extra cash to hire a sophisticated Mac security expert to go over my computer with a fine-tooth comb. These guys are very pricey. Ouch.

Wipe my hard disk, reinstall the OS, and then re- install my apps from scratch, one-by-one, going slowly to make sure nothing sneaks past, and then restore only those doc and image files that I actively need now. Unfortunately, who knows when I will be able to afford my Mac to be down that long? Not right now.

Change and reinforce all the locks on my home, get a pit bull, install a better firewall system on my wired network, and forever stop using a home WiFi network.

Remove Flash (I already removed Java), and Install an app like VirusBarrier that would make my Mac so unfriendly that I would disdain using it.

Drop the investigation and simply learn to live with any spyware now on my Mac or that may ever be on my Mac, forgetting about ever having peace of mind again.

I remain open to better suggestions, ideally ones not already suggested here. Thanks.

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Answer 2

Jan 5, 2014 1:51 PM in response to judahman

I have had this problem as well. It started in the last week. Yesterday, I clicked on a bookmark for a mainstream news site and was taken to an on-line retailer I've never heard of. The day before I got a suspicious email from a bank. I am using an iMac, OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.5.

Today (01/05/14) there was an article on CNN about a Yahoo "exploit kit" malware that has begun to show up on computers. I posted a question asking whether macs are vulnerable, and your question came up under the "More Like This" side panel.

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Answer 3

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Jan 5, 2014 2:17 PM in response to judahman

99.99% of malware is completely hidden from sight. Malware authors aren't interested in having their exploits detected by suspicious users. While malware can't be entirely ruled out in your case, you are probably experiencing some kind of software or hardware problem (maybe the GPU.)

Using a constantly on AV program runs the risk of slowing down your Mac, or creating other issues. In addition, no AV program can identify an infection that hasn't yet been catalogued, and most AV programs use heuristics--in plain talk they are making educated guesses, which often lead to false positives. You may still want to run some kind of AV. The best bet out there is probably Sophos, or VirusBarrier Express (scans only manually and makes no system modifications. MacKeeper is total garbage. Although it does now use a respectable AV program, Avira, you could run that without buying the whole package.

ClamXav is a decent program run by a developer with considerable integrity, but it has fallen way behind in its detection rate. And MacScan is pathetic at identifying malware. But is the best at finding known keyloggers. And as far as I know, most if not all of those will have needed to be installed with physical access to the Mac.

Here's a good read on this subject.

http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-antivirus/

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Answer 4

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Jan 5, 2014 3:41 PM in response to judahman

judahman wrote:

Lately I keep get odd little blips on my Mac screen when I open apps and or use various browsers. I uspect that spyware or some other malware somehow has been installed on my machine. I have since installed highly recommended always-on security apps like Avast and Avira and Kasperski for live filtering (thinking that what one does not catch another will) along run-only-on-command apps like BitDefender and ClamX (each catches items the other misses).

None of the A-V apps that you have mentioned are designed to find Spyware. The only one that does is MacScan which is known to have false alarms (make sure whatever it finds is actually what it says) and terrible at detecting any form of OS X malware. That's because any Spyware on your Mac must be installed using physical access to your computer or you approved shared access to it over your network. The only "Spyware" available for Macs is commercial or hack software installed for some purpose, not malware.

Chances are, whatever you have found so far is Windows only malware.

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Answer 5

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Jan 5, 2014 3:47 PM in response to Lourufmom

Lourufmom wrote:

I have had this problem as well. It started in the last week. Yesterday, I clicked on a bookmark for a mainstream news site and was taken to an on-line retailer I've never heard of.

You may have accidently installed an extension on your browser that is causing this. See When I try to visit a web site, I get redirected to a different site!.

The day before I got a suspicious email from a bank.

That's probably a phishing attempt. All of us get those, sometimes ever day.

Today (01/05/14) there was an article on CNN about a Yahoo "exploit kit" malware that has begun to show up on computers. I posted a question asking whether macs are vulnerable, and your question came up under the "More Like This" side panel.

Had not heard about that one, more than 99 out of 100 are Windows only. Mac market share still isn't at a level to make OS X exploitation worth the time and money to exploit. If I find more info I'll let you know.

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Answer 6

Jan 5, 2014 5:08 PM in response to MadMacs0

I read your links and found them helpful. I'll be working through them tomorrow when I have access to another computer.

I turned off the "allow extensions" in Safari Preferences. This might also help me with the local newspaper that redirects to car dealership ads.

This phishing attempt made me suspicious because it appeared to be from our bank. I double deleted it and did not open it. I'll just monitor this.

Thanks.

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Answer 7

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Jan 5, 2014 6:39 PM in response to Lourufmom

Lourufmom wrote:

This phishing attempt made me suspicious because it appeared to be from our bank. I double deleted it and did not open it.

There is no currently known malware that can impact OS X by simply reading an e-mail. You would have to click a link or open an attachment for anything to happen.

To check any Hyperlink in a message, hover your cursor over the underlined link and a "tooltip" will show up giving you the actual URL that you will be taken to if you click on it. As long as the last two fields match the bank's web site, it's legit (e.g. wellsfargo.com) but watch out for spelling changes (e.g. we11sf@rgo.com). Whenever you concerned that a bank notice may not be quite right, log onto the bank site manually or give them a phone call to check out the details of your e-mail.

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Answer 8

judahman Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 5, 2014 9:51 PM in response to Lourufmom

Lourufmom has (inadvertently) hijacked my extremely urgent question about root-level malware detection and removal. Opening a separate thread for her separate topic would have honored the rules of good netiquette in our Apple community. Replies to her about email phishing, no matter how worthy that subject, are off-topic in this thread.

Please go back to my original posting, folks, and kindly provide some viable solutions relating ONLY to malware detection and removal on a Mac computer.

Thank you.

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Answer 9

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Jan 5, 2014 10:13 PM in response to judahman

Well, I've give you about two responses which I suspect is about all you are going to get with such sketchy information. Blips? The only thing you have asked is for is a Spyware/Malware detection and removal solution to remove blips and I've told you that there isn't such a thing. Surely you have some additional indications of issues.

There have been a couple of independent reviews of malware detectors if you care to look them over:

Security Spread.

TheSafeMac Mac anti-virus testing, part 2.

How about running EtreCheck and posting the results so we can learn a bit about what you have installed.

If you want to continue to receive help from me, please refrain from such inflammatory statements and ignore whatever is of no help to you. We have hosts in the forum who will enforce any rules that need to be of concern here.

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Answer 10

gumsie

Level 4

2,179 points

Jan 5, 2014 11:09 PM in response to judahman

Hi. I'm not posting any of this to inflame.

If I'm reading this right you have Avast, Avira, Kapersky, BitDefender and ClamX installed all at the same time?

Back in the day I'm sure I read that it was a bad idea to have too many AV packages installed together - could be wrong tho.

Can you be more descriptive about the blips?

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Answer 11

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Jan 5, 2014 11:19 PM in response to gumsie

gumsie wrote:

If I'm reading this right you have Avast, Avira, Kapersky, BitDefender and ClamX installed all at the same time?

Back in the day I'm sure I read that it was a bad idea to have too many AV packages installed together

That still holds true to some extent in two areas.

Some A-V software will detect the signature database of others as being an infection. That has mostly gone away now by encrypting the database, but we still see it once in a while. It can be worked around by excluding competing databases from being watched or scanned.

Having real time / on access detections turned on with more than one package will often cause issues in who gets to scan a new file first. It gets especially bad when downloaded large files as each will try to grab the current segment without waiting for the entire download to finish. As long as only one scanner is active at any one time, there should not be any issues in having multiple packages installed. I personally have five, but none are active except when used for testing.

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Answer 12

gumsie

Level 4

2,179 points

Jan 5, 2014 11:22 PM in response to MadMacs0

In reality then probably not an issue.

Be interested to find out about this root level detection/removal that's being asked about.

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Answer 13

John Galt

Level 10

141,332 points

Jan 5, 2014 11:42 PM in response to judahman

judahman wrote:

Lately I keep get odd little blips on my Mac screen when I open apps and or use various browsers. I uspect that spyware or some other malware somehow has been installed on my machine.

The second statement doesn't logically follow the first.

If you're having trouble, please describe it in more detail. "Little blips" is vague.

Whatever problem exists will only be exacerbated by installing "anti-virus" junk. Get rid of the "highly recommended always-on security apps like Avast and Avira and Kasperski" and fix the problem. Your Mac cannot function as designed with that worthless garbage installed.

MadMacs0 wrote:

How about running EtreCheck and posting the results so we can learn a bit about what you have installed.

Start with that.

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Answer 14

judahman Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 6, 2014 12:47 AM in response to MadMacs0

None of the A-V apps that you have mentioned are designed to find Spyware.

Exactly, this get to the heart of my post. I am looking for the best Mac spyware and malware removal app.

The only one that does is MacScan which is known to have false alarms (make sure whatever it finds is actually what it says) and terrible at detecting any form of OS X malware.

Exactly, this is why I am looking for something better. Actually, I am looking fgor the BEST app.

That's because any Spyware on your Mac must be installed using physical access to your computer or you approved shared access to it over your network.

Well physical access is possible because no home is truly secure any more, and I am not home all the time. As for the second, even with a firewall, I would not vouch for the the total security of our home wifi network.

And I have cause for concern about either or both of such breaches occuring. Please let me be specific:

I have recently been active in a grassroots political campaign to pass a law protecting local residents from transnational corporate contamination of our local environment. The campaign garnered international news coverage because the vast revenues of a global industry are threatened by a visible victory in our community. Dureing the height of the campaign, our team's social media pages and website servers were hacked and crashed. The well-financed "opposition" denies any responsibility, of course. Had I not seen it for myself, I would have told you such things do not ever really happen. Now, I must attest, they do.

Under normal cirumstances, I would dismiss all this as software quirkiness, and if anyone but me was writing this post, I might call the person a kook. In fact, I am seasoned journalist with healthy scepticism. In this case, though, I am not sitting on the sidelines as a netral observer. I am in the game. I have been and remain vocal in my support for this local grassroots democracy movement, speaking out online and at public hearings. Have I attracted attention from those who hacked my friends' computers? I want to know for sure.

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Answer 15

judahman Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 6, 2014 1:04 AM in response to John Galt

John Galt wrote:

If you're having trouble, please describe it in more detail. "Little blips" is vague.

I get weird blips on my screen when I open some but not all of my apps, and thse include fast flashes across the bottom of my screen, plus small images popping up in the corner of the screen and then vanishing too fast for me to get a fix on them. Also, when I am using various browsers, my screen goes blank for an instant, the same as when I do a Command-3 screen capture, but this happens without me doing anything beyond clicking a weblink.

FYI, these odd blips began about when the grassroots campaign hit a cresendo about a month ago when the controversial bill passed (see my posting directly above), roughly when the computers of fellow team members where compromised. The campaign to ensure reliable enforcement of the new law is still at issue, so everyone in the grassroots campaign is being cautioned to stay vigilant about possible computer security threats. Thus my posting here and my call for help.

MadMacs0 wrote:

How about running EtreCheck and posting the results so we can learn a bit about what you have installed.

Given my situation, I hope you can appreciate how reveling such "private data" is not an acceptable risk.

John Galt wrote:

Whatever problem exists will only be exacerbated by installing "anti-virus" junk. Get rid of the "highly recommended always-on security apps like Avast and Avira and Kasperski" and fix the problem. Your Mac cannot function as designed with that worthless garbage installed.

This is a helpful comment. The thrust of my request, really, is to find out what to install instead -- if anything will really get down intot he root of my system and ferret out any and all spyware or other malware. I f had big buck I woudl hire a computer security expert to handle this for me, but I have to do what I can with my tiny budget.

gumsie wrote:

If I'm reading this right you have Avast, Avira, Kapersky, BitDefender and ClamX installed all at the same time?

Back in the day I'm sure I read that it was a bad idea to have too many AV packages installed together

Might well be a good to have them all installed at once. Please note that the blips that alerted me to an issue began before I installed any of these apps (which is why I installed them).

And this brings me back to my core question: What is the BEST mac security app available (free or affrdable, that is, for Barracuda is well beyond my fiscal reach).

Thanks everybody for your support and wisdom.

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