Old Mac Laptop w/ infection?

[Blues]

Have a client with a Mac laptop he is getting a notice about a renewing of McAfee which is not installed nor has it ever been and the notice seems to link to a fake McAfee renewal. The laptop is running BitDefender which finds nothing n the system I cleared all notices and cleared out anything I could find but I am fuzzy on Mac so does anyone have any tools they recommend or know how to run something at boot to check the system.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Open items automatically when you log in on Mac

On your Mac, have selected apps, documents, and server connections open automatically when you log in.

support.apple.com

After that, take a peek at the browsers themselves because often it's just a home page or search provider that's been snagged, and those settings are the same on Apple as they are on Windows.

 

[timeshifter]

Sounds like it may be a browser notification, not necessarily any executable that is running.

By the way, what version of macOS is it running? What is the machine's vintage (go to Apple menu, About this Mac...).

Fake security warning or not, if it's not running a currently supported OS he may have security exposure.

Apple macOS

Check end-of-life, release policy and support schedule for Apple macOS.

endoflife.date

 

[Blues]

I agree it seems like a browser notice I reset and cleared all cache it went away for a day or 2. I haven't been back out to the system to get more details and I don't recall the OS version but IIRC it is an Intel Mac.

 

[Markverhyden]

Remember BHO's back in the day? That's pretty much what it is. Customer clicks on some link and it loads a plugin that's published by a "legit" company so passes security tests like something like CleanMyMac.

 

[Porthos]

Depending on the browser used this might be some help
Please reference the below Malwarebytes Labs article on Browser Push Notifications.
Look for the section "How do I disable them?"
Browser push notifications: a feature asking to be abused

Google Chrome:
Turn notifications on or off - Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox:
Web Push notifications in Firefox

Microsoft Edge:
Manage website notifications in Microsoft Edge

Apple Safari
Customize website notifications in Safari on Mac