Concerned about spyware and drive-by downloads on my Macbook Pro

Hello!

I'd like to preface this discussion by stating that I am a very, very paranoid person. Currently I'm wearing a "tinfoil hat," so to speak. I know that there are a bunch of procedures in the Mac OS Firmware that protect the computer from malware installation, but I came to try and put this paranoia to rest with the help of external input from other users.

A while ago, I became very concerned that I may have gotten a keylogger from an email sent by Google. (It was one of those "security alerts" that I found out was legitimate.) I searched the internet for information regarding whether or not a mac could get infected by such forms of spyware- and I found that the only means to be infected involved someone with my admin password gaining access to my computer, or through downloading programs and providing my own admin password to bypass Gatekeeper. I then stumbled across a thread from 2012, wherein one user provided a URL- http://www.keylogger-for-mac-os-x.com/how-to-detect-a-mac-keylogger.html

Because I was unaware of the link's contents (instead of the URL, there was a hyperlink reading "how to detect a Mac Keylogger") I clicked it blindly. I'm kicking myself for doing this. Essentially, the link led to an HTML page stating something about the Domain Name, or something like that. I panicked afterward, having read about drive-by downloads in the past.

I ran the site through a VirusTotal scan, and 0/64 sites detected it as malicious. I also ran a computer scan with MalwareBytes, which showed that I was clean. However, I am concerned about Mac's vulnerability to drive-by downloads. I am using the Google Chrome browser, rather than Safari- (I feel that's somewhat relevant information.)

My computer is running High Sierra, v 10.13.3. It is a late 2016 model (with a touchbar.)

If someone could update me about the vulnerability of a High Sierra macbook to drive-by downloading on Chrome, that would be great. I just want to ease my paranoia, as it's becoming a pretty serious detriment to my overall mental health.

If any further information is needed, let me know and I can provide it.

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID

Posted on Aug 27, 2018 11:46 AM

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16 replies

mckaze Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 27, 2018 7:15 PM in response to etresoft

Thank you for the detailed reply. It's certainly calmed me down quite a bit since my initial post. I had called Apple Support earlier and they recommended Malwarebytes- which I already had installed on my laptop anyhow. After doing some digging, furthermore, I found a utility called "DetectX Swift," which also ran a troubleshooting scan and came up clean. (I've since uninstalled DetectX, believing that having one anti-malware program on the computer is already more than enough.) After running an EtreCheck diagnostic, I found that there weren't any significant issues on the computer.

One point I would like to make is that I was using the Google Chrome browser rather than Safari; I assume, however, that this does not make much of a difference regarding the lack of danger a non-executed malware file poses.

I figure that these three utilities showing me that there is nothing wrong with the computer are an indicator that I am clean.

(If I could get feedback regarding the legitimacy of DetectX Swift, however, that would be great- I try to be vigilant about installing third-party software. It is created by an independent party called "Sqwarq.")

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Concerned about spyware and drive-by downloads on my Macbook Pro