Snow leopard vulnerability to malware?

i bought snow leopard boxed from a mac store and installed it two days ago. i twice had to search for and install rosetta, something i have never had to do before. (i am running a dual intel G5 machine.)
this morning while browsing the new york times with safari, a pop up window appeared warning me of a virus infection from "protection-check07.com", which redirected to "http://sex-and-the-city.cn/" before i could close the browser. i have "block pop up windows" turned on in safari. later today a search query at google was refused because my "network or computer" was sending "spam inquiries".
i assume i have been infected with malware such as confickr, but i have never had an infection before and the timing immediately after installing snow leopard concerns me. has anyone encountered malware or suspicious network or disk activity in the days immediately after installing snow leopard?

First off, you are running a Mac Pro, not a PowerMac (can't run SL on G5s). Programs that relied on PowerPC code you now have to option install Rosetta (should only be needed to do once).
SQL-injection; feeding malware via ads is very common, though I have never once seen it happen running IE8 x64 with Windows Vista/7.
I use one browser for safe browsing and locked down. Easy to do with Firefox using NoScript and one or two other extensions, and to limit or prevent java and plug-ins.
*'drive-by' infection*
http://www.abuse.ch/?p=1801
I wonder if the changes in Snow Leopard to DNS make for more vulnerable in some way. Snow Leopard doesn't have any real portection.

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Snow Leopard compromised by Malware

My snow leopard when I perform an install places the following files which do not perform any recognizable function.
/System/Library/Coreservices/apple80211agent.app
the process apple80211agent.app when Forced to quit restarts itself. I have removed the process and was wondering if anyone else has this file?

Your safe, I've got the file too searching with the free Easy Find from MacUpdate.com, on 10.6 like you.
If your that paranoid that you can't trust Apple, then don't enter any personal information into the machine because Apple will splash it all over the place being all super helpful and trusting.
If you already have, then backup, erase and reinstall the operating system. Setup and return only files with no personal identification, don't use email with your real information, don't use Address Book or anything.
If you have data you don't want anyone to see, use it on a offline machine that's never connected to the Internet.
Read the "Paranoid" section of my User Tip here, it will blow your mind.
How do I securely delete data from the machine?

Snow Leopard still safe to use?

For some reason my mac always freezes randomly with Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks.
Is it still safe to use Snow Leopard for browsing with Firefox and emailing with Mail app?
Comments please.

Excuse for my bad english (i'm italian) But i will try to tell what i understood.
I too use firefox, with snow leopard, and i think is safe i'm sure of it.
In the page of Apple support
http://www.apple.com/support/sitemap/
apart from the new maverick that is the current release
than, as you all can see, under the voice of "earlier release" there are all the OS that apple still support ( and this means also that if there will be the need of a security uppdate this will come.
and together with lion and mountain lion they still support not only SNOW LEOPARD but LEOPARD too, that is older than snow leopard.
Remember that Snow Leopard is still sold by apple so they HAVE TO SUPPORT IT!
When, by the end of february there was the world doubt of "maybe apple stop support to snow leopard" one day a went to ask in a Big apple store in my city. And they told me that all that things that the blogger was telling about apple that will stop support snow leopard was only silly things told to make caos... They told me that snow leopard is still support by apple as we can see in apple support page sitemap, and that if others OS was updated (for security update) and Snow Leopard last time have not security update this was because Snow Leopard HAD NOT the need to be Updated at this moment. But if in the future there will be the need of an update that wlll come!
Those things they told me in the shop is clearly in line with what Peter Cohen told in this article here...
http://www.imore.com/snow-leopard-vulnerable-attacks-has-apple-really-abandoned- it-0
So i think we can all be quiet ad use our snow leopard withoud doubt.
The only important things for us that use firefox together with snow leopard is the hope that MOZILLA will go on to make newer version of firefox that CAN run with snow leopard!
Unfortunatly Mozilla stoped give version for LEOPARD time ago so stop to give browser news for a OS that is still supported by apple...
So i hope that they will not do the same with snow leopard, but i hope that they will go on to give us new version of firefox that run with snow leopard for a long time AT LEAST till snow leopard will be supported by apple (but i hope even more!)
For this i already written to mozilla italian forum asking to the mozilla people "please do not stop to give us firefox for snow leopard!" go on to make us happy and give it to us for a long time!

Security Update 2011-003 (Snow Leopard ONLY - Really, Really?!?!?!)

What anyone who doesn't have Snow Leopard isn't at risk of getting tagged by dreaded "Mac Defender" Trojan Horse???
Come Apple Snow Leopard isn't the only OS that is at risk, you really should make this avaible to ALL Mac users, not just those who have purchased and installed Snow Leopard.

Eric Schwarzkopf wrote:
What anyone who doesn't have Snow Leopard isn't at risk of getting tagged by dreaded "Mac Defender" Trojan Horse???
Come Apple Snow Leopard isn't the only OS that is at risk, you really should make this avaible to ALL Mac users, not just those who have purchased and installed Snow Leopard.
It would apparently have been a much bigger undertaking to provide similar functionality for earlier systems. You'd probably have to start from scratch, whereas for Snow Leopard it's a small update to a pre-existing feature. This isn't to say, though, that Apple shouldn't have provided something for earlier systems anyway.
From
About Security Update 2011-003:
Description: The OSX.MacDefender.A definition has been added to the malware check within File Quarantine.
The "File Quarantine" check for "potentially unsafe files" began with OS X v10.5, but the addition of a specific "malware check" feature using a list of known malware was new in Snow Leopard.
From
About file quarantine in Mac OS X v10.5 and v10.6:
Snow Leopard checks for malware
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard builds upon the existing unsafe file type check by also checking for known instances of "malware", or malicious software. When you open a quarantined file, the file quarantine feature will check to see if it may include known malware.

Snow Leopard and the Flashback Malware

I am visiting my elderly mother and (like an idiot) responded to a prompt to update Adobe Flash last night. I have checked for the presence of DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES per C|Net's article on how to detect and remove the Flashback malware and it is not present in Mac OSX, Safari or Firefox. Can I relax? Do I still need to completely disable Flash in Preferences? She does not see well and is trained to automatically update via Software Update for Mac.
Also, her computer is running VERY slow. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot the speed?
Thanks in advance for any help! Happy Mother's Day!
Marsue
Her iMac:
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac5,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          4 MB
Memory:          1 GB
Bus Speed:          667 MHz
Running Snow Leopard 10.6.8

If you have installed the appropriate security updates then you computer is protected. See
Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection
An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.
Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.
See these Apple articles:
   Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection
   OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
   OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
   About file quarantine in OS X
If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using ClamXav.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection.

Snow Leopard Flash Player Security Vulnerability

In the "What were they thinking?" department, various sources are warning about security vulnerabilities in the older version of Flash Player that is included with the Snow Leopard installation. It is recommended that the newest version of the Flash Player be downloaded from the Adobe web site and installed. D'oh!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10344478-37.html

Raymon:
You should probably be updating Excel to 10.1.6 anyway; then run the new Security update. In fact, if you're running Excel with MS Office X, I there's a combined updater to take care of all the products in that Suite. (Run repair permissions from Disk Utility before installing.)
I wouldn't be concerned with older flash files you have previously put on your Mac. I'd just install the new security update(s) and go on with enjoying your Mac.
Yes, you'll also want to update the Shockwave Player or other Flash-based Macromedia software you might have installed, based on the listing at the bottom of that referenced site.
I'm not really surprised about views/replies. "Vulnerabilities" don't necessarily mean that there's anything vicious roaming around the net right now, but rather that something in the software code was discovered that might allow such things to be enabled. If something affecting Macs was running rampant, I suspect that it would be reported everywhere very quickly.
Gary

Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and flash problems

Well, this problem is iny my head for a long time.
I'm working on a iMac 12.1 and i'm really happy to have my favourite Snow Leopard 10.6.8 OS, althought there are several problems with Adobe Flash Player.
My internet browsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome - tried everyone) can't show a frame with streamed video. It's a camera, that shows White Storks in Poland.
Safari: It shows a blank white box, the second camer shows a thinking black frame.
Firefox: says: 201, unable to load stream or clip file.
When i'm working on Mountain Lion (10.8.3) at home this problem doesn't exist. Everything is working fine.
I don't want to upgrade my first machine to 10.8.3. Anyone can help me?
Cheers, Tom
Poland
sorry for the mistakes

Two bugs, one affecting Apple's Mac platform and another attacking Microsoft's Windows, exploit certain Flash player vulnerabilities to install malware onto users' systems, reports ArsTechnica. While users of other operating systems like Linux have yet to report attacks, Adobe's advisory notes the exploit affects all platforms.
Designated as CVE-2013-0634, the first vulnerability targets the Safari and Firefox Web browsers running on OS X, and is also being used as a trojan to deploy Microsoft Word documents containing malware. For Mac users, the flaw affects Adobe Flash Player version 11.5.502.146 or earlier.
On March 1, 2013 Apple again blocked Flash Player for Lion and Mountain Lion:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5660
The Adobe Flash patch can be found on Adobe’s website, and users can visit this page to check if their software is the most curent version.
You should uninstall any previous version first, and repair permissions after installing the new version.
If you still get a ‘plug-ins blocked’ message:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5271

HT5246 The above info is confuses me. I thought this trojan horse affected those who had Java (JRE) up and running i.e.,Safari security Java checkbox enabled. I also believed this Trojan horse affected those using Snow Leopard. Clarify please.

The above info re the Flashback removal tool confuses me. I thought this trojan horse affected those who had Java (JRE) up and running i.e.,Safari security Java checkbox enabled. I also believed this Trojan horse also affected those using Snow Leopard. Clarify please.

There are several variants of the trojan. The first ones were released as installers for Adobe Flash and therefore did not require you to have Java on your system. Later variants took advantage of a Java vulnerability and could install themselves by simply visiting a rogue Web site. Therefore, even without Java installed if you had run a rogue updater for Adobe Flash or Reader, then you might have installed the trojan.
The trojan also affects Snow Leopard and prior versions of OS X (so far the code is known to be intel-only, but this is unconfirmed), but Apple has only issued patches for supported versions of the OS (version 10.6 or later).
Apple's removal tools run in OS X 10.6 or later if you instlal the Java update, and the standalone removal tool is for Lion only. Why Apple does not offer options for other operating systems is beyond me, but that's the way of things. Right now there are other tools you can use to check for and remove the malware on versions of OS X that Apple does not support: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57413811-263/flashback-malware-removal-tool -roundup/

My Macpro Intel Core Duo-running OS 10.6.8 has been crashing pretty much with everything I try to open. I find the last resort will be to boot from Snow Leopard system disc. Has anyone experienced this? I can only run Google Chrome.

In the last few days, it seems that my computer has all of a sudden caught a virus. I have never had that happened to a computer, but I have surely heard about it. I can't think of any other reason it is behaving like this. I know that Macs have been pretty much impervious to viruses, but that was before they were the majority of users.
Anyway, what is happening is, my computer keeps crashing whenever I try to open a program, app, document, folder, file, etc. I tried to boot from Drive Genius to establish the problem, but Drive Genius crashed too. I know the last ditch effort (after cleaning and maintenance of disc verification and permissions and repairs, is to reboot from the system disc.
Before I go there I was hoping someone in the community would have a suggestion to help me avoid that ultimate last resort. The tech support guy at Drive Genius told me that probably would have to be the way to go (as in reboot) and if that doesn't clear it up, it's repair time.
Thank you for your consideration in advance;
Lorain R

In the last few days, it seems that my computer has all of a sudden caught a virus.
As others have pointed out, this isn't malware. That should not be your first (or even fifty-first) thought when your Mac starts misbehaving. For more on this topic, see my Mac Malware Guide.
I know the last ditch effort (after cleaning and maintenance of disc verification and permissions and repairs, is to reboot from the system disc.
You mention "cleaning and maintenance." Have you been running utilities claiming to do those things? If so, you may be the victim of an overly-zealous cleaning job, which has removed important files and damaged your system.
If I'm understanding correctly, you're unable to open any applications at all... is that right? Do you have any backups? If you don't have backups, you're in a sticky situation, as it will be difficult to make backups in your current state, but you shouldn't try any kind of repairs without them. (Actually, you shouldn't do anything with your computer without backups, but this is especially important when something is going badly wrong.)
If you have backups, reboot from your Snow Leopard install disc. From there, first, repair the hard drive with Disk Utility. Once that is done, assuming repairs were successful, reinstall the system. You can simply reinstall it on top of your current system, and it will replace any damaged or lost system files with new copies. (You'll also need to update the system via Software Update after reinstalling.)
If you don't have backups, or if Disk Utility can't repair damage, or if the problem continues even after a reinstall, post back with those details.

Snow Leopard Memory Usage

I have recently downgraded my iMac 8,1 back to Snow Leopard due to an unsupported video card in Lion. Not soon after I downgraded, I started experiencing high cpu usage when the machine would run for long periods of time without being rebooted (6-7 hours).
Currently, the machine has 8GB of RAM (which is all recognized in spite of the documentation stating the max ram on this machine is 6GB). I run, on average 8-10 applications at the same time throughout the day. It appears that the offending application that takes up cpu usage varies throughout the day. This morning, it is iTunes using 85%. Other times, it's Apple Mail. Even others, it's MDWorker (which I'm not confident I know what that is).
What doesn't make sense is that the offending application changes throughout the day. As time passes, sometimes when I attempt to launch a video on a website, it gets real choppy and will not run normally until I reboot. The audio cuts in and out and the frame rate is horrible.
My initial thought was that one of the memory sticks is bad, but these issues don't indicate a memory problem from what I understand. Yesterday, I removed one of the two sticks of RAM and booted to see what performance was like with just 4GB in. It did the same thing even after only 5 minutes running. I have also considered a memory leak, but that in itself shouldn't cause abnormal CPU usage.
Currently, My CPU usage is at about 50% on both cores with iTunes taking up 82% (I am streaming audio) and the Activity Monitor itself using 8%. All other processes are under 2%.
Does anyone have any advice? What should be normal CPU usage on Snow Leopard? Of course, that's a subjective question that depends on what applicatios you are running. I do not do any heavy graphics processing. My main applications are Safari, Word, Excel, Outlook, iChat, and iTunes. I am thinking of, once again, nuking this machine and rebuilding from scratch.
Any advice would be helpful. I'm pulling my hair out.

RevJoel wrote:
On a hunch, I ran ClamXAV from Safe Mode and found 8 emails with Trojans. While not critical, I moved them to the trash and emptied it. One of the 8 was in my Mail folder. The rest were in SPAM. I rebooted after that was complete and have been running better since the above screenshot was taken. I cannot imagine that a trojan was clicked on as it was probably an attachment unless someone I regularly email with accidentally sent me one since that's how they work.
There are no known Trojans spread through e-mail that affect the Mac and without knowing the infection name I can't really say, but suspect they were all Windows. Most Mac malware detected by ClamXav have "OSX" as part of the infection name.
It's never a good idea to move e-mail files around using the finder or any AV software. This will most certainly corrupt the mailbox index file which could result in the loss of additional e-mail. You should repair the damage by running "Rebuild" from the Mailbox menu of Mail on both your Inbox and Junk folders. It's also possible that you didn't delete the oriinal mail from your e-mail ISP's server and it will just be downloaded to your computer again the next time you check for mail. Depends several settins in Mail and on your ISP's server.
You should always use the "Reveal in Finder" option to locate the e-mail in the finder, then double-click it to open it in Mail, then use Mail's delete key (and empty the trash folder if you use it). There may be one more step to permanently delete it if the e-mail is from a gmail account.

Security updates for snow leopard

Hello Apple People,
I seem to be getting conflicting advice around upgrading my browser.
I'm on Snow Leopard on a mid-2009 Macbook. As I'm not receiving security updates and there are some websites telling me I need to upgrade, I decided to buy Mountain Lion from the online Apple Store. I couldn't redeem the code. I spoke with Apple who said I didn't need to get ML anyway, that I'd been given the wrong advice in-store and that I can go straight to Yosemite. They are refunding me which is good. Still, I'm no further ahead. I had prepared the way for upgrading: added 2GB RAM so I have 4GB. I've installed Office 2011 so that I shouldn't lose my Word 2004 docs. I have an external hard drive that I back up using Time Machine.
My concern is that I am vulnerable security-wise. Can anyone suggest what I do next? Maybe maximise my security settings? How can I find these?
Thanks.

Nothing compels you to keep using Safari. Firefox and Chrome work very well with Snow Leopard and are kept up to date. Interesting that the people who handled your problem with Mountain Lion were so eager to push you to Yosemite, rather than fix the problem.
The other thing you can do right now is go into your System Preferences/Date & Time and turn off "Set date and time automatically". You can fix this vulnerability yourself with a little not-too-difficult work:
http://www.macissues.com/2014/12/24/how-to-manually-patch-ntp-for-os-x-10-6-and- 10-7/
I am not at all expert in using Terminal to do stuff like this, but I was able to assemble the necessary peices and get it done. It is well worth it to me to be able to keep using the best OS Apple has produced in the OS X era.
Regardless of which one you choose, there is no support for older apps that dowork with Snow Leopard because it has Rosetta, which allows continued use of PPC applications. Sounds like you are preparing for that end of things.
There are many changes to the user interface in both Mountain Lion and Yosemite, and they are generally not improvements. There are problems with improper external disk ejection in both of them that will apparently never be fixed by Apple. You should make a bootable clone of your Snow Leopard system in case you want or need to keep using it. This would involve using an external HD other than your current Time Machine disk. Not a big expense, as it affords you an additional, fully functional backup, and it would be better than burning your bridges by installing over your currently functioning system.

After updating to snow leopard and trying to delete mackeeper flash player will no longer work. Can anyone help me?

After updating to snow leopard and trying to delete mackeeper, Flash player is being blocked and will not allow me to view utubes. Can anyone help?

Here are instructions for eradicating MacKeeper - you may need to re-install it to uninstall it fully:
http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/09/21/how-to-uninstall-mackeeper-malware/
Regarding Flash - there are many reports on here that v13.x isn't working for a lot of people. distractme in the following thread posted instructions on how to install the previous version, which should work whilst Adobe work on a fix:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/25430408#25430408

Printing Password NO LONGER WORKS with Snow Leopard!

Ive searched this forum and most people have the opposite problem I do. They want to disable password requests when printing, but I want them!
With Leopard, I was able to set up our networked color printer on every mac and students who logged in with their Active Directory accounts would then try to print but fail because they weren't part of the user group that were allowed to print to our color printer. When the password screen showed up, all I had to do was type in my account name and password, and the student's work would print. This was perfect for our lab set-up so we could supervise printing.
However, with Snow Leopard, this feature no longer works. The password box pops up but it doesnt matter what name/password is inputted, anything will print. By anyone. Yikes. My IT is not too happy and Im trying to find a way to fix this.
I saw Kiraly's tip on using Server Admin tools but it didnt work for us. Error 14071 something.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It could be falling back to Kerberos authentication, where passwords aren't needed every time. I'd suggest telling your IT people to disable kerberos on the Windows Server. If Windows is allowing users to access services with the wrong username and password, then that bug needs to be sent to Windows as a security vulnerability.
Otherwise, if they narrow it down to a problem on the Mac side, tell them to submit a bug to Apple.

I am trying to install Symantec Antivirus and it says I need Rosetta from Snow Leopard-How do I get this?, I am trying to install Symantec Antivirus and it says I need Rosetta from Snow Leopard-How do I get this?

I am trying to install symantex antivirus and it says I need Rosetta from Snow Leopard. How do I get this?

wicklows wrote:
I am trying to install symantex antivirus and it says I need Rosetta from Snow Leopard. How do I get this?
You have a Retina MacBook Pro, it runs OS X 10.7 or 10.8.
It won't run Snow Leopard (10.6) and Rosetta is only for Snow Leopard to run older PowerPC processor based programs when Mac's used to have those instead of the Intel processors they all have now.
So that software your installing is incredibly old, if you bought it, return it for a refund.
Also you don't need a anti-virus for OS X, Apple installed one for all OS X 10.6.8-10.8 users.
If you need anti-virus to clean the Windows files of their malware before passing it on, then the free ClamXav does the job.
http://www.clamxav.com/
If your worried about real threats, then this is worth reading.
Security Issues Warning List
Harden your Mac against malware attacks
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Macbook pro snow leopard 10.6.8 with VMsoftware partition can i upgrade to Yosemite

I have a MacBook Pro laptop bought in 2010 using Snow Leopard 10.6.8. 4 GB of Memory and 2.66GHZintel core i7. I have also partitioned the drive with VMware to use a windows application. If I have backed up all personal photos documents, music, movies etc and I don't mind if I lose all the info in the partition VMware, is it ok to
update to Yosemite. Is there anything special I need to do, like uninstall the VMware first? Also do I need more than 8GB on my hard drive?
Any one done anything similar and if so were there any issues?
thanks for any help,
musemhp

VirusBarrier needs to be uninstalled using the original installer. That installer will have a button that allows you to uninstall the software. If you no longer have the original installer, you will need to re-download it.
BitDefender must be removed using the uninstaller provided by the developer. That uninstaller is found on the .dmg file that also contained the original installer. If you no longer have that, you will need to re-download it.
Do not try to locate and remove these items manually! They must be removed using the uninstaller!
Note that it's a bad idea to have two anti-virus programs like these installed and active at the same time. That can easily cause all manner of problems, including serious performance problems. For more information about protecting yourself against malware, see my Mac Malware Guide.
You also have SpeedIt installed, which is a badly outdated program that has been discontinued. The developer is no longer in business. I would be surprised if it wasn't causing problems. Unfortunately, because it is so old and the developer's site is gone, I cannot find any uninstaller or uninstallation instructions. See if you have a SpeedIt uninstaller somewhere. If you still have the SpeedIt installer somewhere, that may include the uninstaller.
If removing those programs doesn't fix the problem, the only other third-party kernel extensions you have installed are:
com.markspace.driver.Android.RNDIS 1.2
com.roxio.BluRaySupport 1.1.6
You'll need to remove those using the uninstaller provided by the developers (markspace.com and roxio.com).

Snow leopard vulnerability to malware?

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