• Computer Hacked What To Do
• How To Check Computer Id
• How To Check If Your Computer Is Hacked Mac Computer

You turn on your MacBook and feel that something is wrong: some files have disappeared, or new files were added. You wonder if someone has been watching your computer.

So, how to tell if someone is remotely accessing your MacBook? You need to check your logs, verify that no new users were created, make sure that remote login, screen sharing and remote management are disabled, and no spyware is running on your computer.

Mar 08, 2013 Help! My Mac's Been Hacked! Mac users get hacked, too. Here are some tips for when you think your Apple's core is rotten with malware. Dec 18, 2017  So, your PC seems to have come alive: the mouse pointer is moving by itself and making correct selections. That is a bad sign – your computer is being hacked. Your Bank Account Is Missing Money. If money is missing from your bank account, that might mean cybercriminals have hacked your computer and stolen your card details. Aug 15, 2017 10 EASY Ways to Know if Your Computer is Being HACKED Submit your Top 10 Ideas Here: Tweet me if you use my code! G2A.COM Cash Back w/. Mar 08, 2013  Help! My Mac's Been Hacked! Mac users get hacked, too. Here are some tips for when you think your Apple's core is rotten with malware. Dec 22, 2013  Your Microsoft account—linking SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Office webapps, Xbox, and possibly your PC—comes with a tool that shows you if any unauthorized parties tried to get into your. Nov 01, 2019  If that happens it could result in malware being downloaded onto your computer or mobile device and/or having your identity and online accounts compromised. Bad, bad stuff for sure. Luckily, our friends over at F-Secure have created a handy tool for checking your router to make sure it hasn’t been hacked. The test couldn’t be easier to use.

First things first. If you suspect that someone is controlling your laptop and if there is a chance that they watching you thru the webcam immediately apply a cover on laptop’s webcam. You can find my favorite webcam covers here.

Sep 19, 2016 Related: Porn Blackmail Scam Rattles Mac Users: What You Need to Know. You might be asking, “Is my Mac’s camera hacked?” The truth is your webcam can be accessed without your consent, and therefore covering your Mac’s built-in camera is a good idea. Don’t take my word for it, just see what FBI Director James Comey has to say about it.

What is remote access and how is it configured on MacBooks?

There are three ways to access MacOS remotely: allow remote logins from another computer, enable Screen Sharing or allow access by using Remote Desktop. Both ways are legitimate, but if you don’t remember doing any of them you need to know how to turn on and off those possibilities.

Remote login to MacOS

Computers that run MacOS as an operating system can log in to your Mac using Secure Shell (SSH). Steps to enable remote login are the following:

1. Go to System Preferences. You can get there by clicking on the apple icon on the left of the top bar. After you clicked on apple icon you will see a drop-down menu where you should click on System Preferences menu item.
2. Find Sharing folder and double click. Click on Remote Login checkbox on the left.
3. Now you have the option to allow access either for all user or only specific users.

Once Remote Login is enabled then users with access can use SSH to log in and browse your computer’s contents.

Access to Mac screen using Screen Sharing

If you need help from IT to make changes on your MacBook or maybe you are collaborating on a project and want to share your screen you can enable Screen Sharing. Steps to enable as follows:

1. Go to System Preferences.
2. Find Sharing folder and double click. Click on Screen Sharing checkbox on the left.
3. Allow access either for all user or only specific users.

Now on another Mac (from which you want to access to your Mac) start Screen Sharing app. You can start it by clicking Command and Space buttons. In a popup form type Sharing and hit Enter. Type your computer name. In my case, I had to type in “dev-pros-MacBook-Pro.local”.

A new window will pop up with the shared screen of another computer. Now you can control the screen.

Remote Desktop with Remote Management

Finally, it is possible to login to a computer with MacOS by enabling Remote Desktop. Steps to enable as follows:

1. Go to System Preferences.
2. Find Sharing folder and double click. Click on Remote Management check box on the left.
3. Allow access either for all user or only specific users.
4. There will be different Sharing options where you can fine-tune the type of access to allow: observe, change settings, delete, copy and even restart the computer.

Now you can access this Mac from Apple Remote Desktop – it’s an application you can buy from Apple Store and at the time of writing it’s cost was $79.99.

If your Mac is being monitored, it will show this image (two rectangles) in the top right-hand corner near your computer time:

When that symbol appears, you will be able to tell if you are being monitored. You can also disconnect the viewer by clicking on Disconnect option:

You can also click on “Open Sharing Preferences…” which will open Sharing folder in System Preferences.

Since the question you had was if someone remotely accessing your computer then the chances are that you don’t need any of sharing capabilities mentioned above.

In this case, check all options on Sharing folder under System Preferences to make sure that nobody is allowed to access it and turn off (uncheck) all options.

Verify if new users were created

As we’ve seen already remote login or sharing options require assigning access roles to the local users. If your system was hacked it is very likely that the hacker has added a new user to access it. To find out all users in MacOS perform the following steps:

1. Start Terminal app by either going to Applications and then Utilities folder or clicking Command and Space and typing Terminal in the popup window.
2. In the Terminal window type:

On my laptop it listed dev1, nobody, root and daemon.

If you see the accounts, you do not recognize then they probably have been created by a hacker.

In order to find when the user account was used to log in last time type the following command into the Terminal:
last

For each account, MacOS will list the times and dates of logins. If the login to any of the accounts happened at an abnormal time, it is possible that a hacker used a legitimate account to log in.

Check the logs

It may be useful to check the system logs for any possible access issues.

In order to find a system log, click on Go option in the top menu or simultaneously click Shift, Command and G. In the “Go to Folder” popup type: /var/log and hit Enter.

Now find system.log file and scan for word sharing. For instance, I found following screen sharing log entries:

These were log entries when someone logged in to my system remotely:

Check for spyware

If you are still suspecting that spyware is running on your machine you can use a third party application like Little Snitch which monitors applications, preventing or permitting them to connect to attached networks through advanced rules. Setting up the rules for Little Snitch, however, could be complicated.

One of the common spyware applications is a keystroke logger or keylogger. Keyloggers used to be apps that record the letters you type on the keyboard, but they significantly in last years. Suffice to day that keyloggers can take screenshots every 30 seconds or even track your chat activity, including the messages sent to you.

I believe that keyloggers are much greater security threat because they are easier to install and the powerful features they offer. Check my article about keyloggers here: How to know if my Mac has a keylogger

Security Best Practices

1.Change passwords regularly
One thing you should immediately if you are suspecting that someone is logging to your system is to change your password. And the password should be complex enough so that other people wouldn’t be able to guess it. This means avoiding using things like birthdate, first or last name or relatives, house or apartment number, etc. As a rule of thumb the password must be long enough (8 – 32 characters) and include at least 3 of the following character types:

• Uppercase letter (A-Z)
• Lowercase letter (a-z)
• Digit number (0-9)
• Special characters such as ~!@#$%^&*

2.Enable Security Updates by clicking on “Automatically keep my Mac up to date” in Software Update folder in System Preferences.

3. Install Antivirus. I received a lot of emails where people described suspicious activity on their Macs. I found that in about 60-70% cases, the culprit was malwareand not someone breaking into the computer. It’s a myth that Macs don’t get viruses. If you need proof check the next article I wrote after testing 12 antivirus programs after injecting 117 malware samples on my Mac:

Last Updated on

How to remove 'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked' from Mac?

What is 'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked'?

'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked' is a scam promoted by deceptive websites. As the title implies, the scheme claims that users' devices have been compromised and were accessed without authorization. 'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked' promotes other scams, which endorse untrustworthy and possibly malicious software. Typically, users access deceptive webpages via redirects caused by intrusive adverts or by PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Applications), already infiltrated into the system. These apps do not need express user consent to be installed onto their devices.

Computer Hacked What To Do

When a site running this scheme is accessed, it presents visitors with a pop-up window. The text presented in the pop-up, states that users' iPhone has been hacked. Therefore, their actions are supposedly being tracked by cyber criminals. The scam informs users that they need to take immediate action. Once this window is closed, users are presented with various other scams that promote fake anti-virus software, adware, browser hijackers and other PUAs. However, it is not unlikely that the schemes may endorse trojans, ransomware, cryptominers and other malware. Therefore, trusting 'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked' and the scams it promotes - can result in system infections, financial losses, serious privacy issues and even identity theft. Additionally, users should note that no website can actually detect threats present on a device; hence, any that make such claims are scams.

Aside from force-opening deceptive/scam, sale-oriented, rogue, compromised and malicious sites, PUAs can have other/additional abilities. They can run intrusive advertisement campaigns. These ads diminish the browsing experience. Furthermore, once clicked on - they redirect to untrustworthy/malicious websites and some can even stealthily download/install unwanted software. Other types of PUAs can hijack browsers by making modifications to their settings and restricting/denying access to them - in order to promote illegitimate search engines. The latter are rarely capable of providing search results, so they redirect to Yahoo, Google, Bing and other legitimate search engines. Most PUAs can track data. They can monitor browsing activity (URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries typed, etc.) and gather personal information extracted from it (IP addresses, geolocations and other details). This vulnerable data is often shared with third parties (potentially, cyber criminals), intent on misusing it for profit. To ensure device integrity and user safety, all suspect applications and browser extensions/plug-ins must be removed without delay.

'Apple Rewards Program', '(3) Viruses has been detected', 'Your Apple iPhone is severely damaged by 19 viruses!' and 'Your Apple iPhone is severely damaged by (6) viruses!' are a few examples of other scams targeting iPhone users. Online schemes can use various scam models. Popular models include (but are not limited to): alerts that the device is infected or at risk, notifications concerning outdated or missing software, fake prize giveaways, ludicrous deals, etc. Regardless of what these scams state, request, offer or demand, the end-goal is the same - to generate revenue for their designers. Therefore, users are advised to exercise caution when browsing.

How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?

Some PUAs have 'official' download webpages, which are often promoted by deceptive/scam sites. These apps can also be downloaded/installed alongside other software. 'Bundling' is the term used to define this false marketing method of pre-packing ordinary products with unwanted or malicious additions. Rushed download/installation processes (e.g. ignored terms, skipped steps, etc.) - increase the risk of inadvertently allowing bundled content into the system. Intrusive ads proliferate PUAs as well. Upon being clicked, they can execute scripts designed to download/install PUAs without user permission.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

All products should be researched before download/installation. It is recommended to always use official and verified download channels. Unofficial and free file-hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks and other third party downloaders - commonly offer deceptive and/or bundled content; therefore, they are advised against use. When downloading/installing, it is important to read terms, study all possible options, use the 'Custom/Advanced' settings and opt-out from supplementary apps, tools, features, and so on. Intrusive adverts typically appear legitimate and harmless, however they redirect to highly questionable pages (e.g. gambling, pornography, adult-dating and others). Should users experience such advertisements/redirects, they must check the system and immediately remove all dubious applications and/or browser extensions/plug-ins from it. If your computer is already infected with PUAs, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS to automatically eliminate them.

Text presented in the 'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked' scam:

Your iPhone Has Been Hacked

All your actions on the device are tracked by a hacker.

Immediate Action Is Required!

Close

To enable pop-up blocking, fraudulent website warnings, and remove web browsing data in mobile Apple devices, follow these steps:

First, go to 'Settings', and then scroll down to find and tap 'Safari'.

Check if the 'Block Pop-ups' and 'Fraudulent Website Warning' toggles are enabled. If not, enable them immediately. Then, scroll down and tap 'Advanced'.

Tap 'Website Data' and then 'Remove All Website Data'.

Instant automatic Mac malware removal:Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced computer skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of Mac malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner for MacBy downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. Limited three days free trial available.

Quick menu:

• STEP 1. Remove PUA related files and folders from OSX.
• STEP 2. Remove rogue extensions from Safari.
• STEP 3. Remove rogue add-ons from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove potentially unwanted plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox.

Video showing how to remove adware and browser hijackers from a Mac computer:

Potentially unwanted applications removal:

Remove potentially unwanted applications from your 'Applications' folder:

Click the Finder icon. In the Finder window, select 'Applications'. In the applications folder, look for 'MPlayerX','NicePlayer', or other suspicious applications and drag them to the Trash. After removing the potentially unwanted application(s) that cause online ads, scan your Mac for any remaining unwanted components.

Combo Cleaner checks if your computer is infected with malware. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. Limited three days free trial available.

Remove 'your iphone has been hacked' pop-up related files and folders:

Click the Finder icon, from the menu bar. Choose Go, and click Go to Folder...

Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/LaunchAgents folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchAgents

In the “LaunchAgents” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by adware - “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. Adware commonly installs several files with the same string.

Check for adware generated files in the /Library/Application Support folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/Application Support

In the “Application Support” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious folders. For example, “MplayerX” or “NicePlayer”, and move these folders to the Trash.

Check for adware-generated files in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder:

In the Go to Folder bar, type: ~/Library/LaunchAgents

In the “LaunchAgents” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by adware - “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. Adware commonly installs several files with the same string.

Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder:

In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchDaemons

In the “LaunchDaemons” folder, look for recently-added suspicious files. For example “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preferences.plist”, 'com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, etc., and move them to the Trash.

Scan your Mac with Combo Cleaner:

If you have followed all the steps in the correct order you Mac should be clean of infections. To be sure your system is not infected run a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus. Download it HERE. After downloading the file double click combocleaner.dmg installer, in the opened window drag and drop Combo Cleaner icon on top of the Applications icon. Now open your launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon. Wait until Combo Cleaner updates it's virus definition database and click 'Start Combo Scan' button.

Combo Cleaner will scan your Mac for malware infections. If the antivirus scan displays 'no threats found' - this means that you can continue with the removal guide, otherwise it's recommended to remove any found infections before continuing.

After removing files and folders generated by the adware, continue to remove rogue extensions from your Internet browsers.

'Your iPhone Has Been Hacked' pop-up removal from Internet browsers:

Remove malicious extensions from Safari:

Remove 'your iphone has been hacked' pop-up related Safari extensions:

Open Safari browser, from the menu bar, select 'Safari' and click 'Preferences...'.

In the preferences window, select 'Extensions' and look for any recently-installed suspicious extensions. When located, click the 'Uninstall' button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Safari browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Safari.

Remove malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:

How To Check Computer Id

Remove 'your iphone has been hacked' pop-up related Mozilla Firefox add-ons:

Open your Mozilla Firefox browser. At the top right corner of the screen, click the 'Open Menu' (three horizontal lines) button. From the opened menu, choose 'Add-ons'.

Choose the 'Extensions' tab and look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the 'Remove' button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Mozilla Firefox browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Mozilla Firefox.

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Remove 'your iphone has been hacked' pop-up related Google Chrome add-ons:

How To Check If Your Computer Is Hacked Mac Computer

Open Google Chrome and click the 'Chrome menu' (three horizontal lines) button located in the top-right corner of the browser window. From the drop-down menu, choose 'More Tools' and select 'Extensions'.

In the 'Extensions' window, look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the 'Trash' button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Google Chrome browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Google Chrome.