Out of all forms of malware targeting Macintosh computers, adware is the indisputable king – at least, in terms of the prevalence. The moderate impact combined with quantitative domination in the Mac virus climate make this species thrive and multiply, with samples like Pohs2oom surfacing often enough to keep up the trend. This infection messes up the way the web browsers operate on a host Mac.

Manipulation, deceit, and obtrusiveness – all of these might sound like human-only vices, but they are also inherent to some inhabitants of the Mac malware landscape. If you ask a cybersecurity expert which type of malicious code has these characteristics, scareware is going to be the answer. Mac Speedup Pro is one of the “classic” rogue apps plaguing Mac computers on a sizeable scale in early 2019 and driving users nuts.

A group of light-fingered cybercrooks have been running a deceptive campaign where Mac OS X users are misinformed about the presence of the Tapsnake virus on their systems. When surfing the web with their favorite browser, the targeted people suddenly bump into popup alerts that report said infection and recommend an application that will supposedly rectify the problem.

Tech support scams are universal as they hit users regardless of their computers. The idea is simple: to dupe people into thinking their machines are at risk and then offer a rogue fix. The pseudo remedy recommended by the crooks can be a junk app or the assistance of a self-proclaimed support agent. The browser alerts saying, “Your Mac is infected with 3 viruses” is part of a classic scam targeting Mac users.

The criteria of legitimacy for Mac apps are becoming increasingly blurred. It holds true for system utilities in particular. Some of them look trustworthy and appear to actually deliver some security and maintenance features, but the distribution tactic backing them is beyond regular practices. MacShiny, a tool marketed as an optimizer and antivirus, may carry through with some of its promises but typically installs itself without permission.

Although the impact of adware attacks is low to moderate, this form of malicious code is dominating the Mac threat landscape. One of the latest examples is a campaign where victims get recurrent popup alerts saying, “Network Layer wants to make changes”. This post gives insights into the origin of these ads, the goals of this hoax, and ways to get rid of the irritating Mac virus.