Jamf Threat Labs recently noticed a new virus that specifically attacks Apple devices.
A virus tailored to Apple
For a long time, Apple Mac users believed that their devices were safe from viruses. However, this is only true until they start downloading illegal software, in which it is very easy to hide a surprise or two.
This happened to several customers of the gig company during the past months. Jamf Threat Labs is a cyber security company noticed a new virus strain a few months ago, which only infected Apple devices. The company traced that the malicious software got onto the machines through a pirated version of a video editing software developed by Apple. The company also managed to identify the Pirate Bay user who uploaded the infected pirated version of Final Cut Pro.
The apple will secretly become a mining machine
Fortunately, the XMRig virus caught by the experts does not cause any upheaval on the machines. What’s more, the virus silently hides in order to stay in place for as long as possible. During the investigation, it was revealed that the virus is a command-line crypto mining tool that wants to use the host machine’s resources – preferably for as long as possible.
Hiding virus
The inventors of XMRig have coded several protection systems into the virus so that it can mine for as long as possible on the infected machine. The malicious software uses the Invisible Internet Project (i2P) communication protocol, so it can remain undetected. Through this protocol, the virus delivers the mined crypto to the hackers’ wallets.
However, the inventors of the virus used other methods to allow XMR to operate safely. The virus tracks when the user starts the activity monitoring function and stops their ongoing actions so that it does not appear among the running programs.
In addition, the software even tries to get the user to disable Apple’s own protection system, Gatekeeper.
The virus is spreading more and more
According to experts from Jamf Threat Labs, among the malicious software, crypto mining viruses are currently spreading the most. The post described that Final Cut Pro is not the only software that is popularly used to distribute XMRig. Among other things, the virus has already been encountered in the pirated version of Adobe Photoshop, another Apple software, Logic Pro. So Mac users are better off getting their software legally.
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