'These kinds of supply chain attacks are particularly dangerous, even capable of infecting savvy members of the development and security community, as was documented by Panic,' said Reed.

Users installed the software thinking all was well, when in fact, malware was being downloaded on their machine in the background. The links to apps were replaced with malicious links, although the downloads bundled malware with the actual apps. The third malware to debut this year - OSX.CreativeUpdate - was released via hacked website MacUpdate, which distributes software such as Firefox. 'Dark Caracal' operation blamed for the hacking of thousands of victims in 21 countries macOS High Sierra release date, features & name: macOS reportedly already protected against Spectre and Meltdown chip vulnerabilities What is malware? The Java-based malware, which is suspected to have been state-sponsored, used a cross-platform RAT (remote access tool) which allowed hackers to use a backdoor to gain access to the infected machines. The security firm explained that its own investigation it had concluded the OSX.MaMi malware was changing the settings to direct traffic intended for legitimate sites, such as online banking, Amazon, and iCloud, towards phishing sites and added a trusted root certificate in the keychain to run man in the middle attacks.įollowing the discovery of the Dark Caracal malware (opens in new tab), security firm Lookout found that it was able to offer remote backdoor access to Macs. For example, the company revealed that the OSX.MaMi virus - the first of the year - was found by a Mac user on the company's forums who reported their DNS settings had been changed without their knowledge and the victim was blocked from changing them back. Many of these security threats have been uncovered by Mac users rather than security researchers themselves.

Malwarebytes for el capitan