Firefox highjacked on my Mac

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

I was looking at some photos online when a voice came out of nowhere telling me my hard drive would be erased in 5 minutes. A web page appeared with a phone number for "Apple Support" I was told to call. I couldn't use Firefox at all and I had to force quit to close it. I have Bitdefender installed so I updated it and ran a deep scan. It found 5 items, deleted them and my computer is back to normal. For anyone owning a Mac who thinks there isn't any malware, spyware, viruses or browser highjack out there, think again.

I am still oxox · ‎03-09-2010

its a scam, shut down and restart the computer and if you ae worried call Apple

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive what could go right.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

@I am still oxox wrote:
its a scam, shut down and restart the computer and if you ae worried call Apple

I know it's a scam! I posted to warn others. BTW, restarting the computer didn't get rid of it. I had to run BitDefender to delete the malware.

Perkup · ‎03-09-2010

@glb613 wrote:
@I am still oxox wrote:
its a scam, shut down and restart the computer and if you ae worried call Apple
I know it's a scam! I posted to warn others. BTW, restarting the computer didn't get rid of it. I had to run BitDefender to delete the malware.

Thank you so much for posting this. I had not seen this before and I do have a Mac. I wish everyone would post when they encounter a scam because it helps those of us who have not seen "that one" before. I am not familiar with BitDefender. Where do I find it? Not computer savvy and no one has a Mac around me.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

You can get Bitdefender at the app store.

Cats3000 · ‎10-07-2013

I had the same thing happen a couple of times on my iMac. Had to "force quit" to get rid of it. I actually shut down my computer and restarted it to make sure it was gone.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

Thhis is what Bitdefender found:

JS.Teslacrypt.4.gen. I had it on both computers but, only one had the browser highjacked. I think it didn't wipe out my hard drive or hold it for ransom because it couldn't run on a Mac. I have no idea how I got it. I don't click on links in e-mail or go to suspicious sites. Beware if you have a Mac. The bad guys are coming out for us as well as Windows users.

blankette · ‎03-12-2010

How do you know it was related to Firefox? If you had been using another browser, do you think it would have happened. Firefox doesnt run well on my brand new HP desktop using Windows 10, it seems to crash allot.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

@blankette wrote:
How do you know it was related to Firefox? If you had been using another browser, do you think it would have happened. Firefox doesnt run well on my brand new HP desktop using Windows 10, it seems to crash allot.

I didn't say it was related. I was using Firefox when it happened and I couldn't use the browser until I removed the malware. Safari worked fine.