Evolve

URGENT: FlashBack Trojan horse has infected 600,000 Macs

Jon Thompson — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:26:31 +0000

FlashBack Trojan Horse has infected 600,000 Macintoshes worldwide.

Fortunately, that’s less than 2% of active Macs.

Every once in a while, a trojan horse (similar to a virus, but tricks the user into installing it, rather than installing itself) breaks through the Mac OS security and infects computers. This isn’t the first time, nor the last time. This particular piece of software uses a bug in Apple’s Java implementation that was recently patched. It then tricks the user into giving away their computer’s login and password by masquerading as Apple’s Software Update.

You are already immune if…
…you are up to date with your software
…haven’t run software update in the last week
…don’t have Java installed. (CrashPlan requires Java, so many of Evolve’s clients do have it installed)

Needless to say, there is a large percentage of Macs that are already immune. Expect Apple to update the antivirus profiles built into every version of Lion in then next day or so, rendering a even larger percentage immune. This summer’s release of Mountain Lion will make it even more difficult to release malware for the Mac.

Am I infected?

The problem at hand is knowing whether you are infected or not.

If you are under a support contract with me, I will be checking your network to make sure that you are immune.
If you are not under contact, but a regular client, please contact Evolve to schedule a check of your network.
If you are not a regular client of Evolve, now is a great time become one.
I have also created a tool that you can test whether you are infected or not. flashback test.app

What do I do if I am infected?

The instructions for removal are here (f-secure.com). If you need assistance in removal, contact Evolve.
Once installed, FlashBack will watch your network connections for usernames and passwords. Therefore, every account on every website will need to have their passwords reset. Also, any website that you use a standard password will need to be changed.

How do I protect myself in the future?

Do not assume that antivirus software would have prevented this. The 600,000 infections were before anyone reported the trojan horse at all. Apple is vigilent in making sure that the Mac OS is secure. Lion is much more secure than Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion will be much more secure than Lion.

The biggest way to be safe is to keep up to date with your software.

Disable iPhone sync with iPhoto

Jon Thompson — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:13:40 +0000

So, you’ve setup iCloud, and you’ve setup Photo Stream. Great! Life is easy. Your pictures show up in iPhoto without you thinking about it.

However…

The next time you plug your phone into your Mac, iPhoto launches and asks you to import pictures. Then it tells you that they’re all duplicate. You look around the preferences, and there is no way to turn it off.

Here’s how:

Plug in your iPhone. Ignore iTunes.
Open “Image Capture”. It’s in your Applications folder.
Click on your iPhone in Image Capture.
Change the popup under “Connecting this iPhone opens:” from “iPhoto” to “No application”

Black stripe up

Jon Thompson — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:38:15 +0000

When putting a MacBook in a bag, always put it black stripe up. The fans (and only ventilation) are situated in the hinge behind the black stripe. If your machine is hot, and you put black stripe down you are either forcing all the heat through the machine (if the fans have turned off) or are essentially blowing hot air over your screen, which can cause shadows on the lower edge of the screen.

If you put your computer in the bag black stripe up, the heat can naturally escape without coming in contact with components, thus reducing the wear and tear on your Mac.

Now if only Apple would put a sleep indicator on the back side…

Mountain Lion announced

Jon Thompson — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:10:36 +0000

Despite no event, nor any rumors hinting at the announcement, Mountain Lion has made its appearance. That’s not to say that it is available for the public. It isn’t.

It is available for developers to test their software on. This also enables your system administrators to learn the nuances of deploying the new OS before it is released, which then shrinks the gap between release and deployment to your business’ Macs. This is incredibly important due to the second thing that Apple announced today.

OS X will be updated annually.

Is your IT ready for replacing your OS every 12 months? Is it time to Evolve your IT?

SOPA is bad for everyone

Jon Thompson — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:14:15 +0000

My friend Brett Trout says it better than I can here.

Call your representatives. This bill cannot pass.

MagSafe power adapter settlement

Jon Thompson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:42:51 +0000

In the event that you have one of the white ended MagSafe adapter that is frayed, here is the link to the support document for the settlement. Fortunately, the Apple Store has been pretty good about replacing these for free … Continue reading →

Disable automatic opening of applications on restart/login

Jon Thompson — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:14:21 +0000

Open Terminal.app. Paste this in and hit return.

defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowLaunchesRelaunchApps -bool false

Copying file paths in Mac OS X

Jon Thompson — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:04:44 +0000

Recently, I blogged about the danger of sending large files via email for iowabiz.com. Almost simultaneously, one of my clients asked me for a solution to easily copy and paste a file path from the Finder in Mac OS X Lion. This allows them to discuss shared files via email without the need to actually attach the file.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a solution built-in to Mac OS X. There’s a couple shareware products out that do it, but I felt it was too simple of a problem to pay per computer to solve. Instead, I created a simple Automator script that allows the user to do so via the services menu in the Finder.

Download: Copy URL of item(s)

To install it, open the zip file and double-click on it. Automator will ask if you want to install it. Do so.
To use it, right-click on a file or folder, go to the Services menu, and choose “Copy URL of item(s)”. It will place the URL in the clipboard.
The URL is a file:// style, which means that the recipient will need to have any servers mounted before they click on the link. Hopefully, I can figure out how to get the server address and connection protocol, so that I can fix that in a later version.

There is also no warranty of anything. If you like it, send a couple bucks my way via Dwolla.

Thinc Iowa

Jon Thompson — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:01:33 +0000

I’m going to keep this one short, not because I don’t have a wealth of things to say about it, but rather my friend, colleague, and mentor Ben Milne has said it better.

ThincIowa is only a week away. Get a ticket. It’s the best $200 you’ll spend in October.

If you need any more reason to go, they have a nice page to convince you here.

When iOS updates fail.

Jon Thompson — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:42:06 +0000

So a colleague and I had a private twitter conversation this evening regarding his inability to install iOS 5. He received the following message at the onset of the update process: “There was a problem downloading the software for the iPhone ‘Friend’s Phone’. The requested resource was not found.”

We went through several steps, as I didn’t have the same experience as he did.

Could he restore? No.
Was he going through a USB hub? No.
Was he using the latest version of iTunes (10.5)? No.

Finally, I asked him to try to restore via DFU mode (Device Firmware Update, although there is an equally apt alternate meaning for the last two letters.)

The process for initiating DFU mode is simple:

Plug in the device via USB.
Open iTunes.
Hold down the power and home buttons on the iPhone for 10 seconds.
Let up on the power but continue holding the home button.
iTunes should detect that your device needs to be restored.

This is the last hope for failed iOS issues, but it is still a process that doesn’t cause pain. Especially with iOS 5′s new ability to back up with iCloud.