Deleting Keychain files

Question

Level 1

7 points

Deleting Keychain files

Greetings,

As I was going through the root directories the other day, trying to finally delete Kaspersky files; I came across several cookie like files in the Keychain sub-menus.

They had titles such as "DOD e-mail", and "hong kong" which led me to consider them potential spyware, or other security threats.

Are these factory back doors or did I somehow get deeply hacked; and if so, how do I remove them?

I was able to get deeper in the system files by following the directions of "Luka10" at this link: Re: Can't completely remove Kaspersky Anti-Virus software

Thank you in advance for your input(s).

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012)

Posted on Jan 19, 2015 11:52 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 19, 2015 12:14 PM in response to arahaim

Are these things you're seeing when running the Keychain Access application?

In general you can delete items in the keychain using Keychain Access. However, be aware that OS X stores information in there that allow it to do secure communication with other systems, and if you delete the wrong entries, you'll have real problems. Be particularly cautious about deleting items in the "System" and "System Roots" keychains.

In general, items in the keychain cannot "hurt" you. This is a secure place that OS X stores encrypted data, and it can be accessed in secure ways by specific applications through system APIs.

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Answer 2

arahaim Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 30, 2015 7:11 AM in response to William Lloyd

Thank you for your response.

I understand about root directories, however, why would there be DOD certificates in my Keychain Access accounts? I have not logged into any DOD sites with this computer, and aside from music, pictures, e-mail and document folders (which I loaded onto an external thumb drive and manually transferred), I did not transfer any data from previous computers.

If this is a PRISM type back door, then Apple has lied to the public about cooperating with the government.

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