02/25/2019

Researchers Discover Malware Targeting Apple Mac Computers

The malware also targets cryptocurrency exchanges

If you ever check bitcoin prices on a cryptocurrency exchange, make sure you delete your digital cookies. Failing to do so may put your personal data like passwords, credit card information and saved iPhone text messages on your Mac computer at risk of being accessed by hackers.

Cybersecurity researchers from Palo Alto Networks published research on Thursday detailing the security firm’s discovery of new malware that affects Apple’s Mac OS, or operating system. The malware, dubbed CookieMiner, appears to be a variant of the similar OSX.DarthMiner malware that security firm Malwarebytes discovered in December that also targets Apple personal computers, said Jen Miller-Osborn, a deputy director of threat intelligence at Palo Alto Networks and its Unit 42 research team.

Like the older malware, the CookieMiner malware can modify computers so that they covertly install software for the purpose of cryptocurrency mining, in which computers perform online calculations to assist in authenticating cryptocurrency transactions; doing so also generates digital tokens for the user as a reward. In this case, the CookieMiner malware will cause computers to “mine Koto, a lesser-known cryptocurrency that is associated with Japan,” the report said.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fortune.