2023-08-20 09:34:24
On macOS, you can set it to automatically switch between light mode and dark mode, but it’s not very user-friendly. Therefore, many Mac users use “NightOwl” instead. NightOwl is a great app, but here comes my big concern. Apparently, it turns into malware and adds the user’s computer to the botnet without permission. Needless to say, anyone who has NightOwl installed on their Mac should uninstall it now. In any case, many of NightOwl’s features are now built into macOS, so uninstalling it shouldn’t hurt too much. What exactly is NightOwl? Web developer Taylor Robinson has noticed that NightOwl has been sold to a start-up called TPE.FYI LLC. This in itself is not surprising. The problem is that the new owner has changed NightOwl’s terms of service. This allowed NightOwl to automatically add users’ computers to the botnet for “market research” purposes. Those of you who have installed a more recent version of NightOwl may have noticed that the app runs a launch agent on your Mac for automatic updates. According to Robinson, the launch agent does a lot more than just checking for updates and reporting crashes. For those interested in the technical details of this issue, please see this blog post by Robinson. What’s your problem? Once incorporated into a botnet, malicious groups can spy on your computer and use the information obtained for things like DDOS attacks. It remains to be seen if the NightOwl botnet can actually do this. Robinson said it might be for collecting data for a concert ticketing platform or something. However, NightOwl’s terms of service stipulate that the app can spy on users’ computers and provide this data to various third parties. The NightOwl app will change your device’s network settings to act as a gateway for internet traffic, so your internet traffic will be shared. In addition, the user’s device acts as a gateway for the NightOwl App’s clients, including companies specializing in web/market research, SEO, brand protection, content distribution, cybersecurity, and more. Whatever the purpose of such data collection, any user would agree that such an invasion of privacy should not be tolerated. How to Uninstall NightOwl If you have NightOwl installed on your Mac, deleting it by dragging it to the Trash is not enough. Robinson has a foolproof way to completely uninstall NightOwl from your Mac, so be sure to try that. The idea of running a “Terminal” command may scare some people, but that’s okay. Simply copy-paste the following command into a new terminal window. sudo killall NightOwllaunchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/NightOwlUpdater.plistsudo killall AutoUpdatesudo rm -rf /Applications/NightOwl.app/~/Library/LaunchAgents/NightOwlUpdater.plissudo zsh -c “rm /Users/*/Library/LaunchAgents/NightOwlUpdater. plist Once you’ve done that, NightOwl will be completely removed from your Mac, and you’ll be rid of that malware threat forever.In a post on the Six Colors blog, Dan Moren wrote that older versions of NightOwl states that there are apparently no files that cause problems. So it seems that this botnet code was added in the newer version. However, it may be wise to completely remove even older versions. How many “Mac user new common sense” do you know? 6 Useful Tools & Tricks Connoisseurs Use | Lifehacker Japan Reproduce the sound of a good old mechanical keyboard on a Mac. Klack, an app that makes you want to type all the time | Lifehacker Japan Source: Robins, Six Colors
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