I seem to have downloaded something called SafeFinder that has semi-hijacked my browsers. I’ve spend some time looking for solutions but have not come across anything that works and doesn’t cost money. Advice please?
Okay, I think I scrubbed it. Moment of panic there. Would still appreciate hearing from people who have dealt with this.
I’ve seen it before.
Here was the guide i saw previously, I am assuming your was much the same. Though might be worth a check over in case of any additional warnings/steps/precautions it highlights.
So much for Macs not getting infected, hey!
Thank you. I did find something similar, but some of the instructions (as this one is a bit) seemed slanted towards getting you to buy something, and I also got paranoid that some of the “solutions” I was finding were actually designed towards locking in SafeKeeper and created by the company…
AmateurTip, the final thing I had to do (and did not see mentioned anywhere I looked) was search my computer for all fires labeled “safekeeper” and there was a .js lurking that I deleted.
You know, that’s NOT an “infection.”
It’s a add-on that the user deliberately (if stupidly) installed.
If you bought and installed Adobe Photoshop, and decided that you didn’t like it, would that be an “infection” also?
It IS partly my fault, but I also got spoofed. I got a popup saying to update Flash, so I did the install. Afterwards my computer says “you already have the latest version of Flash.” Well, that’s happened before. Then all of a sudden–SafeKeeper, and I realized what I’d done.
If there was a screen letting me know about SafeKeeper, no doubt I clicked through it in haste just like I always do when accepting terms and conditions. That’s on me. But SafeKeeper did sneak in with a fake Flash update.
Yes, “Social Engineering” is the #1 way that malware gets installed.
I get alerts every day from Cyberheist News about the latest Phishing attacks.
By definition the software in question is a “Trojan”; a piece of software that disguises itself as something useful when it is actually malware. Any installation of malware is considered to be an “infection” no matter what the method of installation is.
I’ve used Adobe Photoshop for well over a decade and while it has frustrated me many times (and I now prefer open source alternatives) I would not consider it malware. 
I just remembered an experience I had once… This was in 2004, when I was an unemployed IT guy looking for work. I got wind of a job opportunity working for a software company not far from where I lived at the time. The company was called StopGuard and made anti-virus software.
I went in for the interview and the business was in the basement of an office building. And I mean basement; the floor was bare concrete, the walls were painted masonry, there were no ceiling tiles just fluorescent lights in ballasts hanging from a concrete ceiling. One large space irregularly broken up by cubicle walls. I took a written test, then interviewed with a couple of people (one of whom turned out to be someone I knew in high school). But they only wanted salespeople and I wanted one of their web design jobs so there wasn’t much interest.
I found out later that StopGuard was a notorious rogue anti-virus software and I’m glad I didn’t get involved with them. I had no idea what I was getting into at the time but now it’s interesting to think back and remember what it was like to see the heart of a place that makes that kind of software. That place sure seemed dodgy and dark and even before I knew what they really did I was relieved they passed on me.
Malwarebytes has a Mac version (formerly AdAware) that is specifically designed to clean exploits like this.
I did use MalwareBytes, which took care of Safari. But it missed the JavaScript that was still affecting Chrome.
It’s a trojan. It pretends to be one thing but is actually another. That is an extremely common form of malware.
It also self-replicates. That makes it a virus.
I’d actually tell the OP to get a virus scanner and make sure they got it all. I’ve uninstalled that before on someone’s computer and it reinstalled itself after a while.
Any recommendations on a good virus scanner for Macs? If that’s not too IMHO.
I periodically run:
Bitdefender
Malwarebytes
KnockKnock