Fraudulent Mac OS Security Tool Circulating

From US-CERT:

US-CERT is aware of reports of a rogue security scanning tool circulating for Apple Mac OS, known as MacSweeper. The website hosting the tool appears to offer a free scan that when clicked on, highlights purported security issues on a users system. The website then indicates that a subscription fee is necessary in order to fix the alleged issues. Researchers have raised concern over the legitimacy of this tool and point to discrepancies in the language used to describe the software, citing plagiarism from well-known security vendor websites. In addition, some users on the Apple message boards have indicated that they are automatically being directed to the MacSweeper website while browsing online.

US-CERT reminds users to only install software from trusted sources.

I’m not posting this because I’m anti-Mac (I wish that I owned a Mac), but rather because malware for Macs is relatively rare and this needs to be publicized.

Practice safe computing regardless of your OS of choice.