Safety researchers have revealed a report detailing the arrival of recent malware that goes after delicate knowledge that’s saved in your Mac, together with passwords and bank card knowledge. In accordance with the safety workforce at Uptycs, the “MacStealer” malware can assault Macs operating macOS Catalina or later, with both Intel or Apple M-series chips.
Uptycs discovered that MacStealer can get passwords, cookies, and bank card knowledge from Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Courageous browsers. It might extract a number of completely different file varieties, together with, .txt, .doc, .jpg, and .zip, and it may possibly extract the KeyChain database. In accordance with info Uptycs gathered from the darkish net, MacStealer’s makers are engaged on the flexibility to reap Safari passwords and cookies, in addition to knowledge within the Notes app.
“The unhealthy actor makes use of a .DMG file to unfold the malware. After a person executes the file, it opens a pretend password immediate to assemble passwords utilizing the next command line,” based on Uptycs’ report. MacStealer seems to propagate by a “weed.dmg” executable file. When the “weed” app launches, a pop-up seems, stating that “MacOS needs to entry the System Preferences” and a field under that’s for the person to enter the account password.
After that, MacStealer goes to work, gathering the information, compressing it as a Zip file, sending it to the MacStealer maker, after which deleting the stolen knowledge to cover its tracks. The maker then palms the information off to whoever contracted MacStealer.
Uptycs discovered MacStealer by “darkish net looking,” the place the maker posted about MacStealer’s skills and its availability to unhealthy actors for $100 per construct. It’s unknown how the “weed.dmg” is distributed by the unhealthy actor, however the DMG file solely must be launched for a Mac to be contaminated.
It’s unclear if MacStealer has been logged within the CVE.report database that tracks vulnerabilities and exposures, and Apple has not commented on the malware. Apple launched updates for macOS Massive Sur, Monterey, and Ventura on Monday, however primarily based on the safety notes, these updates don’t seem to incorporate patches for MacStealer.
Nonetheless, Apple releases safety patches by OS updates, so it’s a good suggestion to maintain your Mac updated. When you have to obtain software program, get it from trusted sources, such because the App Retailer (which makes safety checks of its software program). Additionally, take a look at our information to one of the best antivirus software program for Mac.
