In-the-wild Mac malware kept busy in June—here’s a rundown

from arstechnica.com
Newly disclosed OSX/CrescentCore is 1 of 6 Mac threats to come to light this month.

June was a busy month for Mac malware with the active circulation of at least six threats, several of which were able to bypass security protections Apple has built into modern versions of its macOS.

The latest discovery was published Friday by Mac antivirus provider Intego, which disclosed malware dubbed OSX/CrescentCore that's available through Google search results and other mainstream channels. It masquerades as an updater or installer for Adobe’s Flash media player, but it's in fact just a persistent means for its operators to install malicious Safari extensions, rogue disk cleaners, and potentially other unwanted software.

“The team at Intego has observed OSX/CrescentCore in the wild being distributed via numerous sites,” Intego’s Joshua Long wrote of two separate versions of the malware his company has found. “Mac users should beware that they may encounter it, even via seemingly innocuous sources such as Google search results.”

Security evasions

Long said that the CrescentCore versions he observed were signed with certificates belonging to an Apple-trusted developer. That would allow the malware to bypass Gatekeeper, a macOS protection that’s designed to thwart malware by allowing only digitally signed applications to be installed. Both recovered versions of CrescentCore are signed by certificates assigned to a developer using the name Sanela Lovic using certificate fingerprints 5UA7HW48Y7 and D4AYX8GHJS.

Long said he reported the certificate abuse to Apple, but as early Friday afternoon, a tool called WhatsYourSign, developed by Mac security expert Patrick Wardle, showed both signing certificates remained valid. On Friday evening, the tool showed one certificate had been revoked and another remained valid.

CrescentCore uses other techniques to avoid detection and analysis. After targets click on the fake Flash installer/updater, it first checks to see if it’s about to be installed inside a virtual machine or on a Mac that’s running AV software. If either of those possibilities turns out to be true, the trojan will simply exit and not do anything more. Security researchers almost always test suspected malware inside VMs to prevent accidentally infecting trusted work computers.

Mac users who want to check for infections should look for files with the name Player.dmg (or Player #.dmg or Player (#).dmg where # is a numeral such as 1 or 2) downloaded to the Downloads folder. Infected Macs may also contain folders or files with the following names:

• /Library/com.apple.spotlight.Core
• /Library/Application Support/com.apple.spotlight.Core
• /Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.plist
• com.player.lights.extensions.appex

Friday’s Intego post lists one of at least six macOS threats that have come to light this month. Others include:

• OSX/Linker, a Mac malware family that exploits a zero-day vulnerability in Gatekeeper so that it can install unsigned malware. The exploit technique, which was disclosed by researcher Filippo Cavallarin last month, works by loading installers from a network-shared disk, which is off limits to Gatekeeper.

• A cryptocurrency miner dubbed LoudMiner by ESET and Bird Miner by Malwarebytes, the two firms that independently discovered it. The miners, found in a cracked installer for the high-end music production software Ableton Live, work by emulating Linux.

• Malware dubbed OSX/Newtab, which tries to inject tabs into the Safari browser. Some of the file names disguise themselves as government forms or recipe apps. All samples have an identifier of com.NTAppStubInstaller and were digitally signed with the Apple Developer ID cosmina beteringhe (HYC4353YBE).

• Backdoors dubbed NetWire and Mokes that were installed in in-the-wild attacks exploiting a pair of potent Firefox zerodays to target people involved with cryptocurrencies. Both backdoors were able to bypass Gatekeeper and were undetected by antivirus engines at the time the attacks went live.

The recent activity is an indication that more and more malware developers are finding it worth their time to create malicious wares for macOS, a platform they largely shunned a decade ago.

As is the case with Windows computers, the best way to protect Macs against malware is to ensure the OS, browsers, and browser extensions are updated as soon as possible after security patches are released. Another key safeguard is to never run a stand-alone version of Flash (the one built into Chrome is generally OK).

Warning: New Undetectable DNS Hijacking Malware Targeting Apple macOS Users

from https://thehackernews.com

A security researcher has revealed details of a new piece of undetectable malware targeting Apple's Mac computers—reportedly first macOS malware of 2018.
Dubbed OSX/MaMi, an unsigned Mach-O 64-bit executable, the malware is somewhat similar to DNSChanger malware that infected millions of computers across the world in 2012.
DNSChanger malware typically changes DNS server settings on infected computers, allowing attackers to route internet traffic through malicious servers and intercept sensitive information.
First appeared on the Malwarebytes forum, a user posted a query regarding unknown malware that infected his friend's computer that silently changed DNS settings on infected macOS to 82.163.143.135 and 82.163.142.137 addresses.
After looking at the post, ex-NSA hacker Patrick Wardle analysed the malware and found that it is indeed a 'DNS Hijacker,' which also invokes security tools to install a new root certificate in an attempt to intercept encrypted communications as well.

"OSX/MaMi isn't particularly advanced - but does alter infected systems in rather nasty and persistent ways," Patrick said.

"By installing a new root certificate and hijacking the DNS servers, the attackers can perform a variety of nefarious actions such as man-in-the-middle'ing traffic (perhaps to steal credentials, or inject ads)" or to insert cryptocurrency mining scripts into web pages.

Besides this, the OSX/MaMi macOS malware, which appears to be in its initial stage, also includes below-mentioned abilities, most of which are not currently activated in its version 1.1.0:

• Take screenshots
• Generate simulated mouse events
• Perhaps persist as a launch item
• Download and upload files
• Execute commands

The motive, author(s) behind the malware, and how it is spreading are currently unknown.

However, Patrick believes that the attackers could be using lame methods like malicious emails, web-based fake security alerts/popups, or social-engineering type attacks to target Mac users.

To check if your Mac computer is infected with MaMi malware, go to the terminal via the System Preferences app and check for your DNS settings—particularly look for 82.163.143.135 and 82.163.142.137.

According to VirusTotal, a multi-engine antivirus scanner, none of 59 popular antivirus software is detecting this malware at this moment, so you are advised to use a 3rd-party tool such as a firewall that can detect and block outgoing traffic.

You can also install a free open-source firewall for macOS named 'LuLu,' created by Patrick and available at GitHub, which blocks suspicious traffic and prevents OSX/MaMi's from stealing your data.

Number of malware attacks on Macs increased by more than 70%

from https://de.business.f-secure.com

70% more malware against Macs

In the first three quarters of 2017, the number of malware attacks on Macs increased by more than 70% and PUA (potentially unwanted applications such as adware) by 50% over the previous year (source: F-Secure Labs). The number of threats is growing rapidly as attackers are clearly shifting their efforts towards the often-unprotected Macs.

On October 17, Reuters  reported a security  breach of the Microsoft Vulnerability Tracking System. A violation that occurred  more than four years ago in 2013  . And what was the attack vector related to this security breach? Macs.  That these were Macs, our security adviser Sean Sullivan suspected right from the start.

Back in February 2013, he had correctly deduced that Apple Macs were involved in  a related hack on Twitter  . Given the serious potential damage such hacks could have caused,  Sean wrote :

"People who use their Mac for work should not have the same sense of security as home users. It's obvious that work-based Macs are more of a goal, and security expectations should be scaled according to the threat level. "

Nothing about the current Mac threat landscape has led Sean to question his earlier assessment. If you're using a Mac for business, Sean says, "You need to take the time to rethink your security profile."

The latest analysis from F-Secure Labs  shows that the new malware is predominantly in the spyware category and over a third of the attacks are targeted attacks. That may not surprise anyone:  Macs need protection. However, there are huge differences in how companies have handled the safety of their various endpoints. A quick way to solve this is  to opt for cyber security all-round protection, such as  Protection Service for Business . The new version includes the advanced  XFENCE technology, which provides the next level of Mac security.

Malware Uses Apple Developer Certificate to Infect MacOS and Spy on HTTPS Traffic

from macrumors.com

A malware research team has discovered a new piece of Mac malware that reportedly affects all versions of MacOS and is signed with a valid developer certificate authenticated by Apple (via The Hacker News). 

The malware has been dubbed "DOK" and is being disseminated through an email phishing campaign which researchers at CheckPoint say is specifically targeting macOS users, making it the first of its kind. 

The malware works by gaining administration privileges in order to install a new root certificate on the user's system. This enables it to gain access to all communications between the host Mac and the internet, including traffic flowing through connections encrypted with SSL. 

The initial email pretends to be informing the recipient of inconsistencies in their tax return and asks them to download a zip file attachment to their Mac that harbors the malware. Apple's built-in Gatekeeper security feature reportedly fails to recognize it as a threat because of its valid developer certificate, and the malware copies itself to the /Users/Shared/ folder and creates a login item to make itself persistent, even in a rebooted system. 

The malware later presents the user with a security message claiming an update is available for the system, for which a password input is required. Following the "update", the malware gains complete control of admin privileges, adjusts the network settings to divert all outgoing connections through a proxy, and installs additional tools that enable it to perform a man-in-the-middle attack on all traffic. 

According to the researchers, Mac antivirus programs have yet to update their databases to detect the DOK malware, and advises that Apple revoke the developer certificate associated with the author immediately. 

Back in January, researchers discovered a piece of Mac malware called Fruitfly that successfully spied on computers in medical research centers for years before being detected. 

The latest discovery of malware, which appears to target predominantly European users, underlines the fact that Macs are not immune to the threat as is sometimes supposed. As always, users should avoid clicking links or downloading attachments in emails from unknown and untrusted sources.

Hackers can steal your iOS and Mac passwords with a single image file

from: thenextweb.com
A new vulnerability discovered by a Cisco researcher could allow hackers to gain access to the internal storage and stored passwords on your iOS or Mac device – and all they’d have to do is send you a malicious image file.

Tyler Bohan of Cisco Talos found that a TIFF format file – sent via MMS, email or placed on a webpage that a victim is guided to visit – can hide malware which can run automatically, without being detected.

In addition to beaming across your authentication credentials on iOS, Mac OS X, tvOS and watchOS, the vulnerability can also allow attackers to remotely control Macs which don’t support sandboxing.

Thankfully, these issues have been patched by Apple; you’ll need to update to the latest versions of their operating systems – iOS 9.3.3, El Capitan 10.11.6, tvOS 9.2.2 and watchOS 2.2.2 – to stay safe.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because the security flaw is eerily similar to the Stagefright vulnerability discovered in Android devices last year. After it was spotted last August, a second version was uncovered in which hardware could be compromised by sending across an audio file.

Apple Gatekeeper still lets malware in

from komando.com

If you use a Mac, you may be comforted by its reputation for being secure. For decades, Apple had done a great job of keeper hackers out.

That is, until Apple products started becoming really popular in recent years. Then, hackers began to pounce. Now, Macs are often hit by hackers, or found to be vulnerable to attack.

That's the case with Apple Gatekeeper. Ironically, it's a program that's meant to keep the bad guys out. If you download apps, you can tell Apple to only let in apps from trusted providers.

As Apple puts it, Gatekeeper helps "protect your Mac from malware and misbehaving apps downloaded from the Internet." Apple says it screens all the apps on Mac App Store, and those created by developers with an Apple Developer ID.

Apple goes on to say: "If an app was developed by an unknown developer, one with no Developer ID, or tampered with, Gatekeeper can block the app from being installed." (See photo.)

The problem is cybersecurity experts last year found there's a flaw with Gatekeeper. The flaw, CVE-2015-7024, lets hackers get in. Once in, they can use malware to steal your personal information, take over your Mac and demand ransom, spy on you, and more.

Last year, this same cybersecurity expert alerted Apple about the flaw in Gatekeeper. Apple issued a patch to fix the problem.

However, as it turned out, Apple patched only some of the entryways for hackers to get in. The problem is, hackers can still get into Gatekeeper.

They can access a trusted app and load a .dmg file malware onto your Mac. It's vulnerable if you're not using the secure HTTPS protocol, or you're not accessing the app from the Mac App Store.

As of now, Apple is said to be working with cybersecurity experts to fully patch up the security flaw in Gatekeeper.

While Apple and cybersecurity experts work on fixing this vulnerability, you should make sure you're protecting yourself, your financial information, and your digital devices. You should use a suite of strong security tools, including an anti-virus program. We recommend our sponsor, Kaspersky Lab.

Mac OS X Malware Soars in 2015

from infosecurity-magazine.com/

Mac malware is set to accelerate over the coming months after having its most prolific year ever so far in 2015, according to new research from endpoint security firm Bit9 + Carbon Black.

After an analysis of the year so far, the vendor concluded that five times more Mac malware appeared in 2015 than the previous five years combined.   

It collected 1,400 unique samples over the period using custom built sandboxes and tools such as such as fs_usage, dtrace, and opensnoop.

It found that Mac malware as a whole does not borrow very heavily from Unix or Linux malware, which was unexpected given OS X’s roots in the open source FreeBSD.

Another interesting find was that more than 90% of the Mac malware it discovered still uses the old load command (LC_THREAD and LC_UNIXTHREAD) to define the entry point into the Mach-O format.

This makes it easier to spot potential malware—if a new system is still using the old command.

In addition, the Bit9 + Carbon Black researchers concluded that the vast majority of Mac malware uses one of just seven persistence techniques to remain on an infected system.

These include LaunchAgents; LaunchDaemons; Login items; Browser plugins; StartupItems; Binary infection; and Cron job.

It appears the growing prevalence of Mac malware is unsurprisingly linked to a rising market share among consumers and enterprises.

“For years, Mac users have watched their PC-using counterparts struggle with cyber-attacks, while enjoying the relative immunity that their hardware provides from malware. This view is becoming increasingly outdated; our research shows that Mac users should be just as worried,” argued Bit9 + Carbon Black Emea MD, David Flower.

“With 45 per cent of businesses now offering Macs as an option to staff, our research should be seen as a timely reminder that every device on the network is a potential target—businesses can’t just rely on a clearly outdated perception of invulnerability.”

Phishers Find Apple Most Tasty Target

from technewsworld.com

"Follow the money" isn't just the war cry of journalistic bloodhounds hot on the trail of political corruption. It's the mantra of Web predators, too. That's why PayPal consistently has been the top brand targeted by phishers -- although that appears to have changed.

Apple now has the dubious distinction of most-phished brand, according to the latest report from the Anti-Phishing Work Group.
For the first half of this year, 17.7 percent of all phishing attacks were aimed at Apple -- a first for the brand -- followed by PayPal (14.4 percent) and Chinese shopping site Taobao.com (13.2 percent), the APWG reported.

Have phishers suddenly become more interested in stocking their music libraries from iTunes than siphoning money from PayPal? Not quite.

"We're seeing a lot of account takeover types of stuff, and your Apple ID is tied into everything," report coauthor Rod Rasmussen told TechNewsWorld.

Target Churn

Phishers can get into all kinds of mischief with an Apple ID, suggested Rasmussen, who also is president and CTO of IID.

"I'm betting some of the naked celebrity photos were stolen with the use of Apple IDs," he said.

"They can be also used to lock a user out of their phone and ransom it back to them for money," Rasmussen continued. "There are lots of different attack vectors, which adds up to why Apple is being phished as heavily as it is."

A greater variety of institutions now are being targeted by phishers, compared to the past, the APWG report notes. For example, in the first half of this year, the group found 756 unique institutions targeted by phishers. Almost half those targets -- 347 -- hadn't been phished in the previous six-month period.

"This amount of churn, or turnover, shows phishers trying out new targets," APWG reported. "They are looking for companies that are newly popular, have vulnerable user bases, and/or are not ready to defend themselves against phishing."

Behavioral Defenses

If the mammoth data breaches in recent months illustrate anything, it's that perimeter defenses alone aren't adequate to keep attackers at bay. Defenders need to accept the fact that their systems will be penetrated and deploy defensive strategies to deal with that inevitability.

One strategy is to combine behaviorial analysis with big data to identify those internal threats.

Intruders that have penetrated a system can be very difficult to identify without some kind of machine assistance.

"Once they're inside, they'll look like regular employees, because they've hijacked an employee's credentials," Idan Tendler, CEO of Fortscale, told TechNewsWorld.

Intruders eventually engage in behaviors that give away their masquerade, though.

"The only way to identify these suspicious users is by profiling their behavior, by analyzing system logs that document their behavior," Tendler said.

The profiles can be used to establish a normal behavior pattern, and "from that, you can automatically spot abnormal behavior by users," he explained.

Profiling Misbehavior

An added benefit of identifying intruders who've compromised an employee's credentials is that potential malware attacks also can be identified. For example, a large proportion of Advanced Persistent Threats -- 76 percent by some estimates -- eventually end up stealing credentials on a system.

"Why?" asked Tendler. "Once the malware infiltrates the enterprise, it hijacks credentials to be used for reconnaissance and exfiltration of information from the system."

Behavioral analysis also can be used to make perimeter defenses stronger.

"If you have a website that's public-facing, or a mobile app, you want to understand who your customer is -- because, as we've seen, passwords are becoming less and less effective," said NuData Security Director Of Customer Success Ryan Wilk.

"You need better ways to find these anomalies to give a customer better insight into who is touching their website and how it's being used," he told TechNewsWorld, "so when an account or transaction is created, you can know if that account or transaction is valid."

Behavioral analysis can be a way for system defenders to see the bad trees in the forest of data moving through their networks every day.

"Bad behaviors will stand out drastically from good behaviors," Wilk said. "It's very easy to identify these artifacts when you're pulling together all this data, creating behavioral profiles and seeing what the anomalies are."

Hackers Use ‘Find My iPhone’ App to Lock, Hold Devices for Ransom

from http://abcnews.go.com
Some iPhone and iPad users in Australia had a rude awakening this morning when they discovered their devices had been locked and held for ransom by a mysterious hacker going by the name “Oleg Pliss.”

The people impacted by the breach reported via tweets and the Apple forum that they received messages indicating their devices had been hacked and they needed to make a payment in order for them to be unlocked.

Apple’s OS X FBI Ransomware Goes Global

form blog.malwarebytes.org

Last week we blogged about how Apple’s Mac OS X users are vulnerable to the FBI Ransomware attacks. These social engineering scams come in the form of a stern warning from the FBI stating you have been caught doing something illegal. The user’s machine is then locked and a ransom of $300 must be paid to restore normal access to the computer.



The ransom pages came with two designs based on the victim’s geolocation: FBI or Europol.

Today, I discovered further customizations showing that the bad guys are busy updating their templates for each country’s police force.

sample: click to enlarge

A couple things to note:

Google has updated their Google Chrome on Mac and can now defeat the ransom page. You can close it despite the JavaScript loop that attempts to prompt you 150 times.

Safari users are still stuck and must employ one of the two methods described here to get rid of the page.

Not all countries currently have their own ‘theme’ but it is only a matter of time before the bad guys roll them out.

Last week the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued a warning that the FBI would never use such methods to apprehend criminals. It is a reminder that user awareness is the best protection against these attacks.