From reader K:
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re: MAC OSX / Maverick
I just had to wipe my computer this last week b/c I could not boot past mac logo...
searched for hours on the net --*nothing* ...I am buttoned up ( AV and Malware )
Frankly...I feel like I got hacked here...for the last 2 weeks at various times, leading up until when you got wiped here...I'd type in the URL for RMN and instead of the page opening...I was led to a page that indicated I could not proceed w/o DL an un named media player ...I x'd out of the screen and tried to re enter RMN...same thing...
then, the next day you got hacked and the day after....I got the grey screen of death...
I don't go to reddit ...just *fyi* ...
total data loss on my end....
apparently now we know that it was a bot...?

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MrF says:
It sounds like you got infected with something different. The one in the article is just one of many varieties of Mac malware. Botnets usually do not destroy data, but borrow the computer's rresources for other nefarious purposes like sending out spam to hundreds of other computers using the host's email address book, or doing Denial-of-Service attacks on websites.

The attack on RMN sounds to me like targeted hacking. Rayelan said in her note that she couldn't even access data on the external drive where she had backed up the website a few months ago. I hope she has an expert take a look at that drive, in case it has recoverable data on it.