MacPaw ships SpyBuster to stop Russian data exfiltration

Ukrainian developer MacPaw has introduced a new product it calls SpyBuster, a tool that spots apps that speak with servers in Russia and Belaruse.

Stop the exfiltration 

The app is designed to help Mac users protect themselves against dodgy applications attempting to exfiltrate information without permission. It works by analyzing network traffic to determine when an app is sending data to Russia and can also inform sites and other media are connecting to servers there.

This prevents data being exported there for later access by Russian authorities under local data protection rules. SpyBuster makes use of two main features, Static Analysis and Dynamic Analysis.

Static Analysis shows whether the app is somehow related to Russia, while Dynamic Analysis warns you when an app is trying to connect to servers there.

The app scans connections in real-time to assess security. You can then deny access.

Joining the effort

When Ukraine was violently invaded MacPaw dusted off its research books and pulled out solutions it thought may help in the war effort.

At first, the idea was to help Ukrainians protect their online data from Russian law enforcement agencies, but the company thinks all Mac users can make use of it. This changed, as the company’s Technological R&D Lead, Sergii Kryvoblotskyi, says:

“As a Tech R&D team before the war, we did a lot of research. So I began to check which of them could contribute to the country’s informational security. One of these researches was about the technical implementation of network filtering on macOS. I’ve realized it could be well-applied to protecting computers from potentially dangerous apps and adapted to help users in our new reality.”

The app is available for free here.

The company also recently open sourced its own internal tool designed to track the safety of its employees during this awful war.

MacPaw has also launched the MacPaw Development Foundation to raise funds for humanitarian aid there as Russia’s violence continues.  The Foundation has already begun sourcing medical supplies and distributing them to hospitals, financing protective gear for military units, supplying defence forces with cell phones and computers, and printing maps for patrols.

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