Python Alerts

Question

Level 1

21 points

Python Alerts

Running High Sierra 10.13.6 on MacBook Pro. Happened to notice today that alerts are turned on for something called "Python", with an icon that looks like a fountain pen tip. I do not recall installing any such software and I find no trace of it in Spotlight Search, nor a manual review of Applications folder. I saw a notice @

https://www.onlinethreatalerts.com/article/2013/7/16/mac-os-x-malware-disguised- as-word-and-pdf-documents/

and searched for the following files

BackDoor.Janicab.1
Python/Janicab.A
TROJ_GEN.F47V0712
Mal/BredZpRTL-A
Backdoor:Python/Janicab.A)

but found nothing.

Does this indicate a security risk? Are there other searches I should run? What, if any, action do you suggest?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), 10.13.6

Posted on Jul 25, 2018 9:03 AM

Reply

Answer 1

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,344 points

Jul 25, 2018 11:49 AM in response to jack3030

jack3030 wrote:

I have received no alerts; have only seen the item in the Notification Center.

Ah, in System Information/Software/Applications, I find:

Python:

Version: 2.7.10

Ob

Yes many applications use Python. It comes on your Mac. To see it in Notification Center, I suspect something called it up at some point in time. This could be an add-on or extension maybe through one of your browsers? Either script or GUI.

In spotlight search you can easily bring it up "Python Launcher.app"

I suspect it is a non issue.

Reply

Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,428 points

Jul 25, 2018 12:03 PM in response to jack3030

In looking at my System Preferences : Notifications, I see no Python entry, and yet I have the following Python versions installed:

Python 3.7.0 (package installed from Python.org)
Python 2.7.15 (package installed from Python.org)
Python 2.7.10 (Apple bundled with macOS 10.13)

After I ran a Python-Objective-C application that floated a Notification panel on screen, then Python appeared in the list of applications shown in the above Notification listing. You can click in the upper-right corner of the menu bar to open the Notifications panel, and can remove your Python notifications by clicking the black close circle on each Python notification entry:

Was there any useful information in your versions of these?

Reply

Answer 3

jack3030 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 25, 2018 11:30 AM in response to leroydouglas

Ah, in System Information/Software/Applications, I find:

Python:

Version: 2.7.10

Ob

Reply

Answer 4

ishrugged

Level 3

557 points

Jul 25, 2018 11:32 AM in response to jack3030

Maybe this’ll jog your memory or add a clue. Perhaps you’ve installed a program that uses a Python script. Here’s a complaint about the Python ‘rocketship’ appearing in the Dock:

http://www.leancrew.com/all-this/2014/01/stopping-the-python-rocketship-icon/

Reply

Answer 5

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,344 points

Jul 25, 2018 11:07 AM in response to jack3030

Python is a programming language. What are the alerts stating?

Reply

Answer 6

jack3030 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 25, 2018 10:38 AM in response to leroydouglas

You are correct, what appears above is where I pasted the filenames in from the website, which talks about malware appearing as documents. I found none of them in Spotlight.

Here's the screenshot.

Thanks for your time. In some ways this appears harmless, perhaps it's my memory that's faulty. But there are several unusual aspects: nothing in Applications, no similar software found after a cursory web search, etc.

Reply

Answer 7

jack3030 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 25, 2018 11:07 AM in response to leroydouglas

I saw the language exists and was concerned, because I don't think I installed it and feared it was installed malaciously. However, on the sites I saw there was no icon that looked like this one associated with it. They, reasonably enough, looked like caricatures of snakes. Do you know/believe that this one is, in fact, from the language?

As mentioned before, it does not appear to be installed now (at least by that name). If it had been installed, but was removed, I assume the Notification entry would have been deleted? Is there a system log that I should check?

I have received no alerts; have only seen the item in the Notification Center.

Reply

Answer 8

jack3030 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 25, 2018 1:39 PM in response to VikingOSX

I'm not sure I understand your question. If you are asking if I had useful information in the Python notifications, there were none, at least none today. I don't recall seeing any in the past either, but perhaps I closed them without taking real notice.

This thread started because I happened upon the Python entry in Systems Preferences and was concerned because I could find no such application and didn't know from where it had come. I feared that some web entity had planted it there and became more concerned when I saw there was a programming language of that name.

Reply

Answer 9

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,344 points

Jul 25, 2018 11:07 AM in response to jack3030

According to your link above, it sure seems like it.

[oh I see now—you just copy & pasted, searching for those files; not that those files presented themselves.]

Post a screen shot of the icon you are seeing...this may be a clue.

Try running the Malwarebytes for Mac — Mac Antivirus Replacement | Malwarebytes

Reply

Python Alerts

Similar questions