MacSweeper "scam" detailed in video

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 17 Jan 2008 at 08:59

F-Secure has posted a video detailing what it's calling the "first Mac rogue application", MacSweeper.

MacSweeper is sold for $40 and claims to scan Macs for viruses and other security flaws.

However, the F-Secure researchers ran the application on their Windows PC, and still found that it reported their "Mac" was infected. According to F-Secure, the scan always find a fault that needs to be fixed, even if there's nothing to be found.

The video also highlights some of the tell-tale signs that the site is potentially dangerous, including its use of text and graphics stolen from legitimate sites including Symantec and Kaspersky.

The video has elicited a response supposedly from MacSweeper support. "We are really trying to make a good software ... the problem is that we are using selling partners that forces us to use this marketing type," says a statement, posted on the F-Secure blog. "We would like to leave them, we don't want to completely destroy Good Name of MacSweeper application. I would like to say sorry for all inconveniences that we could bring to you, but believe MacSweeper is meant to be a useful application."

However, F-Secure remains unconvinced, claiming the MacSweeper operation is likely to represent the beginning of a new trend towards targeting Macs.

"It doesn't mean that Mac is becoming less secure in and of itself," notes F-Secure researchers Patrik Runald. "But it does mean that Mac users will have to watch out for social engineering tricks just like Windows users have had to do for years."