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Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From?

From Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com>
Newsgroups comp.sys.mac.system
Subject Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From?
Date 2018-08-18 17:58 +0000
Organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Pirates
Message-ID <ftr51oFltkpU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)
References <1ntogjr.qfo5c1c07bakN%csampson@inetworld.net> <ftp5agF80qnU1@mid.individual.net> <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-2xvdc6UhT4iP@localhost>

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On 2018-08-18, John Varela <newlamps@verizon.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Aug 2018 23:50:40 UTC, Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 2018-08-17, Charles H. Sampson <csampson@inetworld.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > My iMac was recently infected by Advanced Mac Cleaner. My feeble
>> > attempts at just deleting it didn't work but I was eventually able to
>> > get rid of it (apparently) using information I found on line.
>> 
>> Next time, just download and install the free version of Malwarebytes
>> from here, scan your system to remove baddies, then uninstall
>> Malwarebytes from the Malwarebytes Help menu when you are done:
>
> Why delete Malwarebytes after uning it?

Because Mac anti-malware utilities are notorious for introducing their
own instability, performance, and security vulnerabilities to Macs. A
few - out of many - examples:

In 2005, Norton AntiVirus for Mac errantly identified the virtual memory
swap files created and used by macOS as malware and quarantined them,
preventing macOS from using them. Needless to say, that did not end well
for the unfortunate Mac users who were affected.

Also in 2005, a critical flaw was found in Norton AntiVirus where during
decompression of RAR files it was vulnerable to multiple heap overflows
allowing attackers complete control of the system being protected. The
vulnerability could be exploited remotely without user interaction in
default configurations through common protocols such as SMTP. 

Version 9.0 of Norton Antivirus created a huge file appropriately named
"spacesuckingfile.xxxxxx" after it completed a virus scan, which was
supposed to be a temporary file that it created when scanning archives
on the computer to help determine the amount of free space available on
the disk before it began decompressing and scanning archives on the
computer. Unfortunately, in some situations, Norton AntiVirus would fail
to delete this file once scanning the archives was complete.

In 2009, the AutoProtect component of Symantec's Norton AntiVirus under
Mac OS introduced an issue with apparent corruption of Mac OS X temp
files that resulted in spiking processor usage and complete system
unresponsiveness.

Also in 2009, Sophos AntiVirus software generated false positives for
the "OSX/Inqtana.B worm", invoking users to delete critical application
and system files and causing serious issues. Inqtana.B was a variant of
OSX/Inqtana.A -- a Java based proof of concept bluetooth worm that
affects older versions of Mac OS X 10.4. The vulnerability did not
affect Mac OS X 10.4.5 or Mac OS X 10.4.6, and had not been found in the
wild. Despite that, Sophos' software was identifying supposedly
"infected" files -- sometimes numbering in the thousands -- on Mac OS X
10.4.5 systems. And this isn't limited to Avast, either!

In 2015, Avast AntiVirus was caught using a man-in-the-middle attack to
intercept encrypted https traffic which put banking, online shopping,
and other critical private information at risk of being divulged by
third parties. So by installing Avast, people's credit card details,
private prescriptions, banking details, and any other private
information they exchanged with any website was all open to being
inspected by them (and anyone who compromised their buggy application).

In 2017, Google security researchers discovered a critical vulnerability
in ESET's Endpoint Antivirus 6 that exposed Macs to remote hacking. An
update made to ESET’s antivirus package in October 2016 contained an
outdated XML parsing library from 2007. The result was that vulnerable
versions of ESET Endpoint Antivirus 6 didn't perform perform proper
server authentication, allowing for remote unauthenticated attackers to
perform arbitrary code execution as root on vulnerable clients. Once
they have the ability to push root-level code execution, hackers can
wreak a significant amount of havoc.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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Thread

Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2018-08-17 12:46 -0700
  Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2018-08-17 15:59 -0400
  Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2018-08-18 11:08 +1200
  Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-17 23:50 +0000
    Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? "John Varela" <newlamps@verizon.net> - 2018-08-18 01:42 +0000
      Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2018-08-18 15:35 +1200
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-18 18:01 +0000
      Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-18 17:58 +0000
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2018-08-19 14:52 -0400
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-20 00:16 +0000
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2018-08-22 23:25 +0000
  Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2018-08-18 03:09 +0000
    Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-18 18:01 +0000
      Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2018-08-19 00:18 -0700
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-19 17:00 +0000
      Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2018-08-19 12:34 +0000
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? "John Varela" <newlamps@verizon.net> - 2018-08-19 22:57 +0000
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2018-08-19 19:03 -0400
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? J Burns <burns@nospam.com> - 2018-08-20 05:05 -0400
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? "John Varela" <newlamps@verizon.net> - 2018-08-21 01:46 +0000
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? J Burns <burns@nospam.com> - 2018-08-19 22:13 -0400
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-20 16:03 +0000
            Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? J Burns <burns@nospam.com> - 2018-08-20 16:31 -0400
              Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-20 22:42 +0000
                Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2018-08-27 10:31 -0700
                Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2018-08-27 13:49 -0400
                Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2018-08-27 20:39 +0200
                Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-27 20:13 +0000
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2018-08-22 23:22 +0000
            Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? gtr <xxx@yyy.zzz> - 2018-08-29 16:45 -0700
              Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2018-08-30 15:45 +1200
              Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-30 17:26 +0000
                Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? gtr <xxx@yyy.zzz> - 2018-08-30 17:59 -0700
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2018-08-27 10:28 -0700
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Elden <usenet@moondog.org> - 2018-09-01 12:59 -0500
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2018-09-03 03:48 +0000
      Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2018-08-19 23:57 -0700
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2018-08-20 19:19 +1200
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2018-08-20 09:17 -0400
        Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2018-08-20 15:58 +0000
          Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2018-08-27 10:22 -0700
  Re: Where Does Advanced Mac Cleaner Come From? gtr <xxx@yyy.zzz> - 2018-08-19 19:27 -0700

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