Los usuarios de Mac normalmente piensan que son inmunes al malware. Pero una nueva cepa utilizada para espiar nos recuerda que incluso los ordenadores Mac pueden verse comprometidos por estos programas informáticos.
Los investigadores han encontrado una pieza inusual de malware, llamada FruitFly, que ha estado infectando ordenadores Mac durante años.
FruitFly opera en silencio en segundo plano, espía a los usuarios a través de la cámara del ordenador, captura imágenes de lo que se muestra en la pantalla y registra lo que se teclea.
La empresa de seguridad Malwarebytes descubrió la primera cepa a principios de este año, pero recientemente apareció una segunda versión llamada FruitFly 2.
Patrick Wardle, investigador jefe de seguridad de la firma de seguridad Synack, encontró 400 infected computers with the new strain and believes it is likely that there are many more cases out there.
It is not clear how long FruitFly has been infecting computers, but researchers found that the code was modified to work on the Yosemite operating system, which was released in October of 2014. This suggests that the malware existed before that time.
It is not known who is behind it or how it got onto the computers. Thomas Reed of Malwarebytes called the first version 'different from anything I have seen before.'”
Wardle says there are multiple versions of FruitFly. The malicious software uses the same spying techniques, but the code is different in each variety.
After months of analyzing the new strain, Wardle deciphered parts of the code and set up a server to calculate the traffic of infected computers.
“Immediately, tons of victims who had been infected with this malware began to contact me”, said Wardle, adding that he could see close to 400 names of infected machines and IP addresses.
He believes this only reflects a small subset of infected users.
The discovery of FruitFly reminds users that although Mac malware is considerably less widespread than Windows, it still exists.
“Mac users are more confident”, said Wardle. “We might not be as careful as we should be on the Internet or when opening email attachments”.
Apple did not want to respond to questions about this malware.
According to a McAfee report, malware for Mac has increased in recent years. It skyrocketed in 2016, but most of them were adware, that is, malicious advertising rather than targeted espionage campaigns.
Wardle said that FruitFly is completely new for Mac. The FBI said it neither confirms nor denies the existence of investigations on this.
Fountain: CNN