14 DAY TRIAL // An Apple Store Genius is shedding more light on the seriousness of the “MAC Defender” issue, revealing that “Internally, Apple’s [IT] department mandates the use of Norton Antivirus on company machines.”
“MAC Defender has changed everything,” an Apple Store Genius, who asked to remain annonymous, told Ars Technica.
In Apple's retail organization, the Genius Bar is where customers can receive technical advice or set up service and repair for their products. The staffers responsible with this service are called Geniuses.
Discovered earlier this month, MAC Defender poses as a genuine antivirus program, but displays fake messages that say a Mac has been infected, thus alarming users and prompting them to take action.
Unwary users who end up downloading and installing the app are tricked into paying for a license to have the program protect their systems. Their credit card is then billed for a product that doesn't work to remove malware, and the credentials are likely stolen as well.
“We probably get 3 or 4 people with this per day. Most of them only got as far as installing the program and haven’t entered their credit card details,” the Genius said.
“This always sparks a debate at the bar on whether antivirus software is necessary on the Mac,” he continued.
“This is difficult, as the store sells several antivirus products implying that Apple supports the idea, but as many customers point out, the sales guys aren’t shy in making the claims for Mac OS X’s security,” he elaborated.
He then made a rather interesting unveiling, saying “Internally, Apple’s [IT] department mandates the use of Norton Antivirus on company machines.”
The aforementioned technology site investigating the matter through its connects also got hold of a support specialist who works at an Apple Authorized Campus Store.
This person said, "I have never had to remove a virus or malware from a Mac until this month. Now we have had a handful of people come in with MAC Defender on their computer."
Finally, the site quotes an Apple Certified Mac Technician who agreed that, MAC Defender is one trojan he never expected to see on so many machines that arrive at his workshop.
Part of the statement he provided to Ars follows below:
“…I have to say that the MAC Defender trojan appears to have impacted more of the general Mac-using public than all the previous trojans I've dealt with. When I was seeing thousands of computers per year, I ran across maybe half a dozen trojans each year. Now that I'm seeing about two dozen computers per week, I've seen the MAC Defender trojan at least three times in as many weeks."