Generally speaking, the app bundling technique is the best thing since sliced bread for freeware publishers, because it allows them to stay afloat without charging users any subscription fees. For the average user, though, it might be an evil thing often associated with malware distribution. That’s the way the potentially unwanted BeAware Mac app is doing the rounds. Here are the whys and wherefores on that subject.

The Mac malware landscape is currently dominated by infections that seem relatively harmless on the outside but cause a great deal of frustration to the victims. This is about adware that comes in numerous different forms. In addition to displaying ads and nag screens, these pests may also redirect web browsers and collect users’ private data. The mapsnow.co sample combines most of these adverse features under one hood.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a service designed to ensure the anonymity of communication between computers and to prevent the interception and reading of transmitted data. To safeguard the data sent and received, two things are needed - a special VPN for Mac installed on your computer that will encrypt and decrypt data, and an application on the server of the company providing the VPN service.

It’s beyond all doubt that malicious actors out there realize how effective the social engineering plus malware combo can be. Each component works well in isolation, too, but the fusion exploits both human “vulnerabilities” and computer security weaknesses. The “Chrome is out of date” Mac virus campaign echoes such a complex technique to promote additional malware.

Many Internet users do not believe that they can earn up to $20 a month selling their personal data. The latest scandal around Facebook shows that this statement has its right to exist. It turned out that Facebook has been running a secret Atlas project for more than two years, within which people get paid up to $20 a month for installing and using on their smartphones Facebook branded pseudo-VPN.

Differentiating online scams from real threats is easier said than done. That’s because cybercriminals are getting increasingly proficient in imitating genuine browser alerts, as is the case with the Bankworm virus scam. The goal is always the same: to make it look like the Mac is malware-stricken in order to dupe the victim into downloading something actually malicious. Here are insights into this growing fraud.