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Geonei-A malware removal

M

Mac2014user

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 3, 2014
1
0
Hi all, first post so apologies if it's not in the right place.

My Sophos anti-virus has said I have Geonei-A malware which I understand about from other threads on this forum. Problem is following the other suggestions on the forum doesn't seem to remove it.

It's on the last 3 backups I made on my external hard drive and it's also in my downloads folder on my desktop as a .dmg file. Dragging it to trash doesn't work, neither did trying to get a clean-up app to remove it.

Can you help please?

Many thanks Nick
 
Ok this sounds tricky so I'll open with I have not had the issue you had, that being said, do you have any backups that are not infected?

If you do not then that will be even tougher as you need to get something uninfected so you can restore to. ( This is an absolute priority as infected backups are as good as worthless )

Once you have that I would format the drive and then fresh install, then migrate your uninfected data back in.

Once something becomes infected if will never be the same again, even if it is successfully removed traces will most probably remain.

Found this which might help you:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5928565
 
It's great that you're using an antivirus software because most people believe OSX is immune to Trojans, malware, and other threats. Of course, it's not.

I found this link to an Apple Support document. It matches up with some of the other advice I've read, so hopefully it will help.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6506
 
corvus32 said:
It's great that you're using an antivirus software because most people believe OSX is immune to Trojans, malware, and other threats. Of course, it's not.
Click to expand...
No operating system, including OS X, is immune to malware. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.
​
Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.
 
GGJstudios said:
No operating system, including OS X, is immune to malware. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.
​
Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad you're not in charge of my network security.
 
corvus32 said:
I'm so glad you're not my network security officer.
Click to expand...
We're not talking about networks. We're talking about individual Mac users. Practicing safe computing has proven to be more effective than depending on any antivirus software that has less than 100% detection rates.
 
GGJstudios said:
We're not talking about networks. We're talking about individual Mac users. Practicing safe computing has proven to be more effective than depending on any antivirus software that has less than 100% detection rates.
Click to expand...

Yeah, let me just put all my faith into some FAQ page on the internet.
 
It's not about "faith" ...
That FAQ page has some good, unambiguous information, written to help many folks (and there's a lot of folks who come here with security questions) decide how to be more successful with "safe computing", particularly for the home user.
My impression is that info is not intended for commercial or enterprise / datacenter levels of security, and I don't think that GGJstudios would offer that suggestion to someone who has network usage that naturally leads to higher security risks.
If you have something to add that can be helpful to the private or home user reading that page, I expect that GGJstudios should be happy to add that info, or modify some of the posted info there.
 
corvus32 said:
Yeah, let me just put all my faith into some FAQ page on the internet.
Click to expand...
That FAQ is nothing more than a compilation of factual information from reliable sources, assembled over years of answering thousands of questions on this topic. It has been updated as needed to account for new information and is intended to be a resource for those wanting to understand and appropriately defend against OS X malware. Usually when someone rejects the FAQ, it's because they haven't taken the time to read it and learn the very practical information that would make them a more informed and prudent Mac user.
 
corvus32 said:
Yeah, let me just put all my faith into some FAQ page on the internet.
Click to expand...

In more than 20 years of using more than a dozen Macs I've never been hit by malware. On the other hand, I've suffered plenty of slowdowns because of antivirus software. Even Symantec's Mac software is crap. If I leave my MacBook Pro disconnected from its power cord , some runaway antiviral task will start its scan and the fans kick into high speed and run the computer's battery down in less than 1 hour.

No thanks.
 
The OP had AV software, it detected a threat, and they were able to take action.

I realize that goes against everything some people were brainwashed into believing as a Mac user, but deal with it.
 
corvus32 said:
The OP had AV software, it detected a threat, and they were able to take action.

I realize that goes against everything some people were brainwashed into believing as a Mac user, but deal with it.
Click to expand...

You do make a good point. I have mentioned this before. AV software will not necessarily prevent malware, but it can be useful in letting the user know they have a problem. This seems to get overlooked.
 
Cave Man said:
Dumb opinion. We're not brainwashed, we're informed and have made informed decisions that AV software isn't worth the hassle compared to the very, very, very low risk of malware. It's that simple.
Click to expand...

The OP and those who have chosen to use AV software made the better informed decision.

You'll never know if your Mac is infected.
 
You do not need any Anti-virus, not even on Windows. An anti-virus basically does nothing and just slows down your computer (unless you have an SSD).

If you get infected, format. That is it. No questions. I cannot tell you how many times I keep hearing "I can clean any system" and they work on it for a few days or a week before it is "clean" (can they guarantee that there is nothing hiding from all malware scans? are there any malware scans that find 100% of all malware?). Yet a simple format can have you back up and running in about a day.

Here is another thing: Avoid the third party browser stuff like adobe reader, java, and flash. If you need flash, get Chrome since it is sandboxed and always updating with the browser.

Also, we pretty much have to stop browsing websites. I only visit three websites day-to-day. I have encountered MANY malicious ads on GOOD websites to the point where I never go to those sites anymore. For that reason, I am down to only visiting three websites (this is one of them). There are a few other websites I go to when I need to buy something (JetBrains, VideoCopilot, RedGiant, ...) There are way to many ads online now, and malicious ads keep getting through.
 
corvus32 said:
You'll never know if your Mac is infected.
Click to expand...
No antivirus has 100% detection rates, so even if you have one installed, you'll never know if your Mac isn't infected. The likelihood that your Mac is clean is higher if you simply practice safe computing, rather than depend on an antivirus app for protection. If you want to manually run a scan from time to time for your peace of mind, by all means do so. But too many install an antivirus and assume they're protected, no matter what they do with their computer. That is simply not true.
 
GGJstudios said:
No antivirus has 100% detection rates
Click to expand...

Who said they did? Is that the bar they have to meet before you would use one? Pretty high don't you think.

Tell me, what's your detection rate going without?

Are you going to hide in the corner of the internet forever and hope the boogeyman doesn't find you?
 
Last edited:
corvus32 said:
Who said they did?
Click to expand...
The point is that your statement:
corvus32 said:
You'll never know if your Mac is infected.
Click to expand...
may also be true, even if you have an antivirus app installed.
corvus32 said:
Are you going to hide in the corner of the internet forever and hope the boogeyman doesn't find you?
Click to expand...
No, I'm going to continue doing what many other well-informed and prudent Mac users have been doing for many years: I'm going to continue practicing safe computing, which has been 100% effective in protecting my Mac from malware, including malware that others got, even though they were running antivirus apps.
 
A personal report:

I started with an Apple //c in 1986.
In the spring of 1987, I moved to the Mac with a Mac SE.
System 4.2, or something like that!

Since then, I've owned numerous Macs, right up to the 2012 Mac Mini I use today.

In all those years, I've -NEVER- had a "virus" problem on any of my Macs. Not one, ever.

Back in the Classic Mac days, I used John Norstrad's free "Disinfectant" application (and INIT file), but it never picked up anything.

Since I've moved to OS X, I use.... nothing..... nothing at all.

I download from EVERYwhere, including those sites which we are told contain "infected" software.
I open just about all file attachments that are sent to me, without worry.

My current crop of Macs -might- have a virus/trojan/worm, I don't even check.
Even if they do, I'm not worrying about it -- they all run just fine, thanks.

I realize that someone working in a cross-platform office network environment might actually have cause for concern, but as a "Mac end-user" I have yet to see anything that concerns me, other than the reality of government snooping and data collection, much of which is beyond the control of the end user, anyway.

In closing, I would like to say without equivocation that I have had more problems with software downloaded from Apple, than I have had with anything downloaded from those "torrent sites". Go figure...
 
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