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Re: New Phishing campaign
On Mar 21, 2025, at 11:34 AM, Brent via groups.io <whodo678@...> wrote:
My impression is the is just simple phishing is by both the hackers and by the anti-AV developer. The article and most others that referenced the LayerX-Labs-blog use a lot of BA buzzwords. It would take a nation state ban actor to pump that much effort into maintaining and operating at the implied levels. The cited article says that you only get the phishing attempt if you miss-type the URL for the page that you are trying to access. You end up at a site created to serve up the phishing attempt with a URL that is a likely miss-type.
If you step aside and let Chicken Little pass, you will notice it is just a simple social engineering trick to get you to give them your credentials.
Yes. Neither Apple or Microsoft monitor your computers security, can lock it up, or give out phone numbers in their alerts. Yes.
I look forward to Randy Singers comment, something along the line of there is no known malware for Mac that can lock up your Mac.
There is…but not currently in the wild. It’s entirely a social engineering exploit. If you see a page that says that your Mac is locked, just quit your browser and re-start it.
My bet is that it is simply a scare tactic to get you to willingly give up your credentials.
Yes. If you come across a Web site that has this sort of scareware, please take note of the PRECISE URL, and report it to Google Safe Browsing. Report Phishing Google says that the site will be added to their security list within about an hour. From then on the site will be blacklisted and no longer a threat. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: New Phishing campaign
On Mar 21, 2025, at 12:18, John via groups.io <OceanCity@...> wrote: p.s. What exactly is your "StartPage?" ? 1) a blank page 2) a home page 3) something else??
That’s the actual name of the search engine. It the site Brave seems to use as its default search engine.
Here’s their explanation page…
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Sometimes I use StartPage on Brave, sometimes I use Google when using Safari; either way, I’ve noticed the breadth and quality of searches on both of these have gone down in the past six months, maybe because they are trying to make their algorithms so smart, they’re trying to second-guess what I’m after or shape my opinion one way or another, and they don’t get it right, so the results are poor quality.
Or maybe I’m getting dumber. That’s what my dog says.?
Michael
Re: New Phishing campaign
On Mar 21, 2025, at 10:00 AM, Michael Russo < pwrks@...> wrote:
I don’t know what may have been compromised had I entered the CAPTCHA code, but sometimes it pays to be lazy.
Speaking of, it’s almost nap time…
My guess is that the CAPTCHA lets everyone thru, and is a fake also. You probably were redirected to a phone captcha page, too.?
Either way, it is good you were cautious.
Brent ?
On my late 2012 Mac mini running 10.15.7?
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Re: New Phishing campaign
My impression is the is just simple phishing is by both the hackers and by the anti-AV developer. The article and most others that referenced the LayerX-Labs-blog use a lot of BA buzzwords. It would take a nation state ban actor to pump that much effort into maintaining and operating at the implied levels.
If you step aside and let Chicken Little pass, you will notice it is just a simple social engineering trick to get you to give them your credentials. Neither Apple or Microsoft monitor your computers security, can lock it up, or give out phone numbers in their alerts.?
I look forward to Randy Singers comment, something along the line of there is no known malware for Mac that can lock up your Mac. I would like Al Vernell’s opinion on the threat and the verbiage used.?
My bet is that it is simply a scare tactic to get you to willingly give up your credentials.
Another thing that caught my eye Is that this was reported 3/19, two days ago, and picked up and repeated by many other normally good sources. No name is given for the malware, even though the Windows version had been out for almost a year. Just a lot of scary terminology. Just like the old video I was watching of a conman speaking to swindle a crowd of people.?
Brent ?
On my late 2012 Mac mini running 10.15.7?
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On Mar 21, 2025, at 7:39?AM, Dutch Junge via < dutch@...> wrote:
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Re: New Phishing campaign
On Mar 21, 2025, at 1:00?PM, Michael Russo via groups.io <pwrks@...> wrote: Now I read this article.
I don’t know what may have been compromised had I entered the CAPTCHA code, but sometimes it pays to be lazy.
Speaking of, it’s almost nap time…
Michael Wow! Thank you Michael for your compelling recount of the CAPTCHA trap. I've never encountered this, yet, but now that I'm aware I'll know to quit out of browser, and reconnect. A million thanks Michael. All the best, John?
p.s. What exactly is your "StartPage?" ? 1) a blank page 2) a home page 3) something else??
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Re: New Phishing campaign
Thank you, Dutch, for this article.
?I encountered this two nights ago on my phone. I use…
— iPhone 14 Pro
— iOS 18.3.2 (current)
— Brave Browser on above device
— StartPage search engine (by Brave)
— Settings: deny permission to allow cross-website tracking.
Side note, on Randy Singer’s recommendation, I have been using Brave on my Mac mini and my iPhone as my default browser for a number of years.
So - I stopped by Home Depot on the way home Wednesday night to check details on an electric water pump. I did not tie into the store Wi-Fi or anything else nearby, I only used cell data (Patriot Mobile, a Verizon MVNO).
I punched up Brave, typed in homedepot.com, but the Home Depot website was very slow to respond (which often happens when I’m not on a Wi-Fi network).
So I opened a second Brave browser page, which by default opens to StartPage; typed in the name of the pump I wanted details on, and as the search began, suddenly there was a StartPage request to verify my identity by typing in a CAPTCHA code.
This was not a sudden splash screen that appears over on top of a webpage or another intrusion that entirely redraws the screen or opens a new page, all of which are obvious signs of a pfishing attack, and which happen from time to time. (I never fall for it.)
This was a new thing: The CAPTCHA code request was presented within the Brave StartPage window, as though Brave itself was asking for verification.
This is the first time on either platform I have ever encountered any CAPTCHA request or interruption like this purporting to be directly from Brave or StartPage itself. After so many years of using this browser and the search engine it provides, why all of a sudden now? It just didn’t smell right.
(Like everyone else, I have encountered legitimate appearances of CAPTCHA many times when dealing with mainstream shopping and financial management sites and so forth.)
More out of my impatience than my brilliance at recognizing a new form of pfishing attack, I didn’t take the bait, I just quit Brave, took a picture of the pump I was curious about and went home.
Now I read this article.
I don’t know what may have been compromised had I entered the CAPTCHA code, but sometimes it pays to be lazy.
Speaking of, it’s almost nap time…
Michael
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Re: New Phishing campaign
On Mar 21, 2025, at 7:39?AM, Dutch Junge via groups.io <dutch@...> wrote: |
Thank you Dutch. Great article. Interesting how it morphed from Windoz to Mac.
I can see how this kind of attack could work. A friend of mine had something very similar to this.
It's not your typical "click on the link" approach.
All the best,
John?
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
If the drive mounts, you could use a tool like DriveDx to check the SSD’s Lifetime Left. Might shed some light on its condition.
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On Mar 20, 2025, at 12:56, Jerald Levinson via groups.io <levinson@...> wrote:
Just out of curiosity, how old is this drive?JerryOn Mar 20, 2025, at 1:05?AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
I have this 2 TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD that is use to make a bootable clone of my internal hard drive before I do system updates - so I can go a step back if anything fails.?
And today I was going to make a update from 15.3.1 to 15.3.2?
So I attach the SSD, open Disk Utility and erase the drive before I start cloning
Except - today it wouldn't. It fails.?
So I tried to erase all containers and volumes one by one. No luck.
So I tried to format it as macOS Extended - no luck
FAT32 - No luck. ?
Nothing works.?
And then in the back of my mind, I seem to remember Randy writing about how to revive a failing SSD - and if I remember right, it would implicate using a PC??
I can't find the post on this list ... but I'd hate just to throw this SSD in the bin.
What to do? Any help out there??
:-)
Peter
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
Just out of curiosity, how old is this drive?
Jerry
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On Mar 20, 2025, at 1:05?AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
I have this 2 TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD that is use to make a bootable clone of my internal hard drive before I do system updates - so I can go a step back if anything fails.
And today I was going to make a update from 15.3.1 to 15.3.2
So I attach the SSD, open Disk Utility and erase the drive before I start cloning
Except - today it wouldn't. It fails.
So I tried to erase all containers and volumes one by one. No luck.
So I tried to format it as macOS Extended - no luck
FAT32 - No luck.
Nothing works.
And then in the back of my mind, I seem to remember Randy writing about how to revive a failing SSD - and if I remember right, it would implicate using a PC?
I can't find the post on this list ... but I'd hate just to throw this SSD in the bin.
What to do? Any help out there?
:-)
Peter
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
On Mar 20, 2025, at 6:11 AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
No, the problem is, that is was working perfectky …. untill I tried to erase it / format it.
I can’t seem to do that, so I was just looking for “other ways” to TRY TO erase/reset/revive it You don’t erase SSD’s, it damages them. Apple has specifically removed the tools to do that from Disk Utility for that very reason. You repair an SSD by running First Aid. If First Aid doesn’t fix your SSD, you are SOL. There are no third party tools for the Macintosh to fix an SSD. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
No, the problem is, that is was working perfectky …. untill I tried to erase it / format it.?
I can’t seem to do that, so I was just looking for “other ways” to TRY TO erase/reset/revive it?
:-)
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On 20 Mar 2025, at 14.02, Randy B. Singer via groups.io <randy@...> wrote:
On Mar 20, 2025, at 3:42 AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
As I recall it was something about “resetting” an SSD after extensive use, where it had been filled up or something, and there is no Mac software that can do that,
Correct. ?Is the problem that your SSD is full? ?You didn’t say that. but apperently there is software for PC.
Correct. How to Restore SSD to Peak Performance http://www.pcworld.com/article/2088341/how-to-restore-your-ssd-to-peak-performance.html#tk.nl_pwr But that is not SSD repair software, it is software to erase an SSD when it gets too full and slows way down. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice http://www.macattorney.com/welcome.html __________________________________________________
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
On Mar 20, 2025, at 3:42 AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
As I recall it was something about “resetting” an SSD after extensive use, where it had been filled up or something, and there is no Mac software that can do that, Correct. Is the problem that your SSD is full? You didn’t say that. but apperently there is software for PC. Correct. How to Restore SSD to Peak Performance But that is not SSD repair software, it is software to erase an SSD when it gets too full and slows way down. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
OK Randy, I have obviously remembered wrong. It must have been someone else then :-)
As I recall it was something about “resetting” an SSD after extensive use, where it had been filled up or something, and there is no Mac software that can do that, but apperently there is software for PC.
Disk Utility will not format it. Period.
Maybe it’s just garbage. Annoying!
:-)
Peter
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On 20 Mar 2025, at 11.36, Randy B. Singer via groups.io <randy@...> wrote:
On Mar 20, 2025, at 1:05 AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
And then in the back of my mind, I seem to remember Randy writing about how to revive a failing SSD - and if I remember right, it would implicate using a PC? Doesn’t ring a bell.
SSD’s should always be formatted as APFS.
Assuming that your SSD was formatted as APFS, the only repair utility in existence that will work to repair while it is attached to a Mac is Apple’s Disk Utility/First Aid.
You should boot your Mac into Internet Recovery and then go to Disk Utility and run First Aid.
Option-Command-R
for Intel Macs
power button —> Options —> Disk Utility
for Apple Silicon Macs
How to Start up in Recovery Mode
__________________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)
Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice
__________________________________________________
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Re: One for Randy: Failing SSD
On Mar 20, 2025, at 1:05 AM, Peter Rasmusen <peter@...> wrote:
And then in the back of my mind, I seem to remember Randy writing about how to revive a failing SSD - and if I remember right, it would implicate using a PC? Doesn’t ring a bell. SSD’s should always be formatted as APFS. Assuming that your SSD was formatted as APFS, the only repair utility in existence that will work to repair while it is attached to a Mac is Apple’s Disk Utility/First Aid. You should boot your Mac into Internet Recovery and then go to Disk Utility and run First Aid. Option-Command-R for Intel Macs power button —> Options —> Disk Utility for Apple Silicon Macs How to Start up in Recovery Mode __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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One for Randy: Failing SSD
I have this 2 TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD that is use to make a bootable clone of my internal hard drive before I do system updates - so I can go a step back if anything fails.
And today I was going to make a update from 15.3.1 to 15.3.2
So I attach the SSD, open Disk Utility and erase the drive before I start cloning
Except - today it wouldn't. It fails.
So I tried to erase all containers and volumes one by one. No luck.
So I tried to format it as macOS Extended - no luck
FAT32 - No luck.
Nothing works.
And then in the back of my mind, I seem to remember Randy writing about how to revive a failing SSD - and if I remember right, it would implicate using a PC?
I can't find the post on this list ... but I'd hate just to throw this SSD in the bin.
What to do? Any help out there?
:-)
Peter
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The only “runaway logfile” I have ever metwas once where I by some weird accident had enabled “log connection activity” in Mail - it filled my harddrive completely in a matter of days.
So don't do that :-)
Peter
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On 18 Mar 2025, at 08.34, Randy B. Singer via groups.io <randy@...> wrote:
On Mar 17, 2025, at 11:06 PM, Al Varnell via groups.io <alvarnell@...> wrote:
I haven't updated this since Mojave, but these scripts never did anything important for most Mac users. Except that they kept a lot of trash from accumulating and taking up hard drive space. This isn’t a big deal in the short term, but it can become significant in the long term.
If you have a runaway log file, it becomes important in the short term, as you watch your hard drive fill up suddenly for no apparent reason.
__________________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)
Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice
__________________________________________________
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On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 12:34 AM, Randy B. Singer wrote:
If you have a runaway log file, it becomes important in the short term, as you watch your hard drive fill up suddenly for no apparent reason.
I completely agree, but most of those logs are located elsewhere and should be maintained by a different macOS method. And these scripts actually write more logs than they would likely delete if they were run today.
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On Mar 17, 2025, at 11:06 PM, Al Varnell via groups.io <alvarnell@...> wrote:
I haven't updated this since Mojave, but these scripts never did anything important for most Mac users. Except that they kept a lot of trash from accumulating and taking up hard drive space. This isn’t a big deal in the short term, but it can become significant in the long term. If you have a runaway log file, it becomes important in the short term, as you watch your hard drive fill up suddenly for no apparent reason. __________________________________________________ Randy B. Singer Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions) Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice __________________________________________________
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I haven't updated this since Mojave, but these scripts never did anything important for most Mac users. They are just leftovers from macOS' Unix underpinnings.
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Periodic Maintenance Scripts
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(Originally posted for Leopard, this list has been updated for Mojave.)
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Here is what the daily scripts do:
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110.clean-tmps Delete temporary files in /tmp that have not been accessed for at least 3 days. The most significant thing the daily scripts do (in Leopard) is delete temporary files (in /tmp) that have not been accessed in at least 3 days. But /tmp is cleared as part of the startup process, so there will never be anything to delete on a system that is restarted frequently. The periodic scripts are mostly for "long-lived" systems, i.e., systems that have been up continuously for weeks or months at a stretch.
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130.clean-msgs Delete old system announcements. This is relevant only for multi-user Unix systems.
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140.clean-rwho Delete stale rwho messages older than 7 days. This has to do with Unix networks, and is irrelevant for almost everyone.
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400.status-disks Writes some disk status information in the daily.out log.
Disk status:
Filesystem ? ? Size ? Used? Avail Capacity ? iused ? ? ifree %iused? Mounted on
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420.status-network Writes some system status information in the daily.out log.
Network interface status:
Name? Mtu ? Network ? ? ? Address? ? ? ? ? ? Ipkts Ierrs? ? Opkts Oerrs? Coll
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430.staus-rwho Writes a system status message (mainly system uptime) in the daily.out log. This is just reporting, not maintenance.
Local system status:
e.g. 7:40? up 1 day, 11:48, 5 users, load averages: 1.30 1.16 1.14
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999.local Normally not used.
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That's it, unless you or your system administrator have defined some local tasks. Unless you are running a Unix cluster or regularly using your Mac as a fax machine -- and shutting the machine down every night, without exception -- there is nothing urgent in the daily scripts.
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The weekly scripts update one database, of interest only to Unix users. If you are not a Unix user there is never any reason to run weekly.
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310.locate The locate database is used by the locate command. If you are a regular user of locate, you should evaluate whether the index as built by weekly is complete enough for your purposes.
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320.whatis The whatis database is an index of Unix man pages. It only needs to be rebuilt if you have installed new Unix documentation. In that case, the logical time to rebuild whatis is as part of the installation process, rather than waiting for the next weekly run. Again, if you are not a Unix user, you do not need to rebuild this database at all.
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999.local Normally not used.
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The monthly scripts may do two things.
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199.rotate-fax Recycle fax logs. If you do not use your Mac as a fax machine, it is never necessary to run monthly.
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200.accounting Write some accounting information in the monthly.out log.
Doing login accounting:
total? ? ? 972.73
user? ? ? 972.65
root ? ? ? ? 0.08
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999.local Normally not used.
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Somewhere along the line someone applied the term "maintenance" to the periodic scripts, leading many to believe that they perform some crucial tasks. In fact, it is only minor housekeeping. And they really do run automatically if needed, and the housekeeping is more minor than ever.
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Brent
John
Ben Rosenthal
Al Varnell