Apple/Mac...is Malwarebytes worth installing? Any danger?

[mtenenhaus]

I've been very fortunate, no viruses etc that i know of but i recently came by a little posting/article that advocated downloading a program called Malwarebytes.

I'm not very computer savvy and would hate to install something on my computer that would do something bad....yet i guess there's a lot of not nice people out there doing not so very nice things to peoples computers.

Thought best to ask. Thanks

[Misterclick]

[ocabj]

In the nearly 20 years since I switched to OS X as my primary OS, I haven't really run any active anti-malware / anti-virus. I keep clamav on my computers to do some scanning of suspicious files.

I have been running FireEye Endpoint Protection (HX) on my work Macbook Pro for over 12 months now, but this is more of an EDR rather than anti-virus (we're also deploying HX enterprise wide across all OSes).

Sophos has a free version of AV for OS X. If you feel more comfortable having AV, then Malwarebytes, Sophos, or one of the other offerings out there can give you a little peace of mind.

[mtenenhaus]

thank you all, appreciate the information

[Rvg2151]

Malwarebytes is for malware only, its does not protect you from viruses. Usually your internet service provider will give you a free subscription to mcafee or norton (I know Comcast and ATT does). Go on their website to see what they offer.

Now for Mac/OSX viruses are not common but they do exist for that operating system. It wont hurt to have malwarebytes on your system but another thing to note is that the free version will only scan when you tell it to. It wont detect malware automatically on the free version but its a great tool to have if you get infected with malware.

Bottom line my advice would be to keep malwarebytes free installed on your machine and check with your internet provider if they offer a free anti virus subscription.

[ocabj]

Malwarebytes is for malware only, its does not protect you from viruses.

Malwarebytes does detect viruses with its engine.

Most anti-malware software detects viruses as malware has pretty much been defined to include viruses along with other types of malicious code, PUPs, etc.

[Rvg2151]

Malwarebytes does detect viruses with its engine.

Most anti-malware software detects viruses as malware has pretty much been defined to include viruses along with other types of malicious code, PUPs, etc.

Let me rephrase as my original post was misleading (Apologies for that as I was doing a quick reply on my iphone). The premium version does protect you as the Premium/Paid Version has automated scanning and auto updating but the free version does not and requires you to scan your system and update the definitions manually. Unless you do this yourself on some set schedule you will not be protected. Also the free version does not auto block threats so you will be dealing with any infections after the fact on the free version.

My advice is to check with your ISP as a lot of them provide a free subscription to a anti virus solution.

Also to note Malwarebytes clams that there software is a full anti virus solution that replaces well known anti virus suites like norton and mcafee but if you look at there blog post explaining the claim they appear to be playing semantics with the definition of a virus. They do explain well what a virus is and the history of the term but I have not found any 3rd party security firm or research that backs up this claim.

[jbj]

[Rivers]

Here are a couple tips:

When prompted by an email that "needs you to update your security settings, or to log into your account to validate your information", etc., you are able to click on the email that supposedly takes you to YOUR login page. That's the one the email wants you to put your information into, let your mouse cursor hover on the link for a couple seconds. That will prompt your email app to display the actual link you'd be going to. If that text link doesn't look correct, it's likely a phishing expedition by some bad people. They've also probably hijacked the graphics from the real web page they're imitating.

Examples for fake and real website addresses follow this pattern:
http://support.apple.com [Good, goes to a folder called "support" on the apple.com domain]
http://apple.support.com [Bad, goes to an "apple" folder on support.com, not an apple domain!]
Basically, any admin on a web domain can name folders however they want. If it's a crooked domain, folders will get named in order to deceive the intended victims.

If you want to mess with a likely phishing site, go ahead and enter your email (the one they sent their email to) but enter a password that you KNOW is wrong. A fraudulent website will accept that as being correct, confirming that it was a phishing site. Plus you wasted more of their time, and your own.

Last, if you've been taken for $10,000 by a fraud from Nigeria, don't bother complaining to the FBI. While the FBI might care, when they talk to their counterparts in Nigeria, it's unlikely that the Nigerians would care that some rich American got ripped off. They have other issues like genocide, terrorism, etc. to investigate. Better for the rich American to also be a smart American.