

MacKeeper Is Malware - hypertexthero
http://hypertexthero.com/logbook/2014/05/mackeeper-malware/

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mikestew
Crap article, crap title, written by someone who can't distinguish between "of
questionable value and utility" and "malware". Nowhere in the article does it
state _why_ MacKeeper is malware. In fact, the last linked article at the
bottom ("Please beware") specifically says that MacKeeper is not malware.
MacKeeper might be a waste of money, it might use questionable advertising
(pop-ups, and typically on less savory sites), but malware it is not.

Additionally, the information on AV and how it works is sloppy. This is
already covered well by other comments here, so I won't belabor it.

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coldtea
> _Nowhere in the article does it state why MacKeeper is malware._

I don't care about any such fine distinction. It's an annoying crapware that
pops out of adds that pretend it's a system message for my Mac and that I'll
be in trouble if I don't use it.

That's malware enough for me.

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runn1ng
Who would have known that software agressively advertised through pop-ups,
pop-unders and pop-everything-else on torrent websites would be malware?

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CanSpice
> Then they must find a copy of the virus, examine it and add it to the list
> of virus definitions used by their software.

Strictly speaking, this isn't true. The major AV companies use file behaviours
to try to stop viruses as a first line of defense, something like "if a file
is an executable and it tries to run some manner of encryption on files in the
My Documents folder, its likelihood of being a virus is high". AV companies
use file checksums as a last-ditch effort because most viruses out there are
polymorphic (they have some unused data section at the end that randomly
changes, which busts checksum detection).

A lot of AV companies also offer virus cleanup services, so if you do happen
to get hit by a virus that snuck by, they can help reduce the damage.

Nobody's saying "use AV and you don't have to ever worry again". AV is just
another piece of the defense puzzle, along with user vigilance (don't click
that link in that email from "eBay"), operating system restrictions, network
restrictions (to help prevent data egress), and so on.

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wmt
"Another important thing to know is that no AV software is capable of
intercepting a brand-new virus."

This is simply not true. Here's an test where AV products are frozen before
the brand new malware samples are collected: [http://www.av-
comparatives.org/retrospective-test/](http://www.av-
comparatives.org/retrospective-test/)

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chrisBob
I read through this quickly and completely missed the part where MacKeeper is
Malware. Malware is a strong word for something that just has questionable
utility.

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Sephiroth87
Can't comment on MacKeeper itself, but i feel this is a really stupid
advice...

You don't need an antivirus because virus definitions are slow to update?
Fine, but what about old virus? Am I protected by magic?

Also, I feel like the increase in OSX popularity will result in an increase in
malware for it, so I'm not sure for how long "OSX is virus-free" will be valid

~~~
kylebrown
You protect yourself by not clicking on executables you don't trust (or
running them in a VM). Its not magic, and its better than a false sense of
security from anti-virus which is easily bypassed / poisoned (for example,
even a clean bitcoin client will set off AV alarms).

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nsxwolf
It feels like this article is confusing MacDefender with MacKeeper. MacKeeper
is crapware, sure, but not malware.

