MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected • Hacker News Board

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#51

Post by heimatau » Wed, May 13, 2015, 2:12 PM UTC

lpsz wrote: post #43

wil421 wrote: post #16

Not sure if anyone knowingly installs MacKeeper but I accidentally accepted the download for MacKeeper when I was trying to install a Camera app. Big mistake and I tried to stop the installation. MacKeeper is a nasty piece of malware. I couldn't quit the program, it would immediately start back and putting it in the trash did nothing. Ended up having to boot into safe mode and remove. Well as soon as I got it off my…

I don't see why apple doesn't ban them. Even in the Mac App Store, Apple permits scammy apps such as "Memory Clean" [1] that consistently ends up in top ranks/top grossing. For one, "RAM cleaning" does nothing helpful and theoretically can make your Mac less performant. Bonus: the app calls home to push the developer's other apps. I'm surprised stuff like this prospers in plain sight with Apple's tacit approval. Snak…

@lpsz can you support these statements? "For one, "RAM cleaning" does nothing helpful and theoretically can make your Mac less performant. Bonus: the app calls home to push the developer's other apps."

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#52

Post by nsxwolf » Wed, May 13, 2015, 2:14 PM UTC

philfrasty wrote: post #6

amencarini wrote: post #2

Why am I not surprised that a software mainly famous because of its pop-up ads is not the most reliable thing ever?

I have rarely seen someone advertise (any product) as aggressive as they do.

They used to run this beautifully integrated ad on speedtest.net, where the robot character was rendered in the same neon green motif. It looked like it was just part of the site. That meant that Ookla must have had an incredibly close working relationship with the ad people at MacKeeper. Feels so dirty.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#53

Post by cekanoni » Wed, May 13, 2015, 5:24 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #33

orf wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their website[1] looks awesome, I don't own a Mac (Windows user) but if I were to buy one I would definitely consider buying and using it. It's good that this site[2] is the second result on Google for "mac keeper" though. 1. http://mackeeper.com 2. http://www.imore.com/avoid-mackeeper

Interestingly the toolkit shown is the Ikea toolkit "Fixa" - I wonder if there's not IP restrictions on their use of such an image. Edit: I saw this quote on the Mackeeper website you linked (it is good design) "MacKeeper was noticed at Macworld by a journalist from Cult of Mac". So I chased that phrase and all I found was algorithmic page generators like this http://drgogek.com/is/is-mackeeper-really-a-scam-cult-of-…

good find.

Re: MacKeeper 0-day flaw more than 20M users affected

#54

Post by tracker1 » Wed, May 13, 2015, 7:41 PM UTC

orf wrote: post #22

thirdsun wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once saw a coworker accidentially installing it and it surely is a nasty piece of malware. The problem is that one can never be quite sure whether every piece of the software was removed, which is why we ended up just reinstalling OS X and avoid guessing. Since then, a few of my friends, who aren't into tech, almost installed MacKeeper. They all had a long history of using Windows and felt that installing some Anti…

Their website[1] looks awesome, I don't own a Mac (Windows user) but if I were to buy one I would definitely consider buying and using it. It's good that this site[2] is the second result on Google for "mac keeper" though. 1. http://mackeeper.com 2. http://www.imore.com/avoid-mackeeper

Do a search on google for "chrome" and you get any number of adverts for junkware installers before the actual application... this is true of any number of legitimate apps. Let alone if you are duped by an illegitimate app to begin with.