Macs under attack by North Korean spies — how to protect yourself

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Macs under attack by Northward Korean spies — how to protect yourself

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Remember those squeamish N Korean hackers who destroyed Sony Pictures' computers, spread the WannaCry ransomware worm around the world and stole $100 1000000 from the primal bank of Bangladesh? Well, they're back, and they're attacking Macs.

Malwarebytes researchers said today (May 6) that the Lazarus Group, also known equally Hidden Cobra, has repurposed the Linux variant of the Dacls remote-admission Trojan (RAT) to work on Macs. RATs sneak onto a machine and give a remote assaulter partial or full command.

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"This Mac version is at least distributed via a Trojanized two-factor authentication application for macOS chosen MinaOTP, mostly used by Chinese speakers," a Malwarebytes weblog mail explained. "Information technology boasts a variety of features including command execution, file direction, traffic proxying and worm scanning."

We'd normally tell you that yous don't have much to fearfulness from land-sponsored hackers. American, Chinese and Russian cyberespionage crews normally only want information and focus on diplomats, military officials, defense force contractors, politicians and the like.

But North korea'due south hackers accept no problem committing regular crimes to make money. So this new Mac malware could just be limited to targeting specific individuals in China -- or it could be the outset of a sustained mass spying campaign. (The Lazarus Group has been stealing cryptocurrency from Mac users for nearly two years.)

Either manner, your best bet on how to avoid this Mac RAT is to install and run some of the best Mac antivirus software. Microsoft, Kaspersky, Trend Micro and of form Malwarebytes already recognize this RAT'south signature; others will soon add information technology to their malware-definitions updates.

• Get maximum protection with the best Mac VPN

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has besides been a dishwasher, fry melt, long-haul commuter, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting effectually in the information-security infinite for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom'southward Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random Boob tube news spots and even moderated a console discussion at the CEDIA abode-technology conference. Yous can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/macs-under-attack-by-north-korean-spies-how-to-protect-yourself

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