Black Hat: Accenture, Bitdefender warn Mac is under attack

A pair of in-depth security reports confirm that the number of attacks against macOS security is growing rapidly, reflecting the also growing market share of Apple’s original PC.

Be aware and don’t be silly

The news should represent a clarion call of warning for every Mac user, and while alarming it should be tempered with understanding of the inherent robust security of Apple’s computers. That doesn’t mean the security is perfect, it’s not, but so long as you follow the common sense approach to tech, and don’t click on links in emails, you may be OK.

What Accenture says

Accenture says the number of attacks being made against Macs have increased tenfold since 2019, with most attacks emerging in the last 18 months. The analyst firm has identified a newly emerging community of experienced mac hackers selling their skills on the Dark Web with a range of tools to hack the Mac. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being offered on the Dark Web for successful exploits.

“Of great concern is the emergence of established actors with positive reputations and large budgets looking for exploits and other methods which would enable them to bypass macOS security functions—in particular, macOS Gatekeeper and Transparency, Consent and Control (TCC),” says Accenture.

They claim one bad exploit (now patched) was briefly available for over two million dollars.

Why are Macs targeted?

 Because market share is growing and – because the systems really are inherently more secure than others – the value of the data they hold is high, if a system can be hacked. They are also seeing rapid adoption across the enterprise, as we’ve seen before.

“A combination of the increasing use of macOS in corporate environments, the high potential earnings of threat actors willing and able to target macOS and the surging demand for macOS tools and wares suggest this trend will continue,” the report states.

What Bitdefender says

Bitdefender tells us the nature of the exploits being used against Macs. These include trojans, adware, and potentially unwanted applications, and the one thing they all have in common is that they attempt to trick users into installing them (hence the common sense advice).

Also read: 7 essential online security tips new users need

The nature of each threat differs, for example trojans such as EvilQuest are the biggest single threat to the platform accounting for over half of all threats. What these things do varies, but EvilQuest likes to try a little ransomware, file stealing, keylogging and more. Crypto miners and jailbreak utilities are also being undermined to weaken Mac security.

But the bottom line is there’s a lot of money and time being thrown at the quest to undermine Mac security right now, so it makes sense to stay aware, even if you don’t think you have any reason to be a target.

This is also why CISA encourages users and administrators to apply Apple Mac, iPhone, iPad and other security updates as soon as possible – and why Apple has gotten even more serious about its work in security.

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