1,000% increase in dark web threat actors targeting macOS

lichtmetzger@feddit.de to Technology@beehaw.org – 124 points – Dark Web Threat Actors Targeting macOS | Accenture
accenture.com

Based on research across established dark web forums, threat actors are targeting macOS, with exploits trading for millions of dollars

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Apple used to brag about how Macs didn't get viruses. I used to laugh because it wasn't that they were that much more secur but because their market share was too small to be a profitable target.

Now they've cultivated the perfect target user base. A large collection of tech ignorant or adverse people who have lots of money to burn.

Well, they were significantly more secure by default than Windows due to various design measures including the separation of user land. And old OS9 was friggin brilliant for a web facing machine back in the day.

OS9 ran absolutely everything with full privileges. It was not even remotely secure. It was basically Windows 95-level security.

When did Apple brag about that? All I can think of is a brief ad campaign where the "PC Guy" had a cold. That's hardly a claim that Macs have perfect security.

Apple has, in fact, gone on the record as saying they don't think the Mac is secure enough, and that's why iOS is locked down as tight as it is.

I don't recall if Apple themselves actually advertised for that, but it was definitely one of the commonly cited "data points" online when you were looking to buy a computer back in the late 00's / early 10's. Back then, I recall people also thought these fancy new-fangled devices called "smartphones" also couldn't get viruses, regardless of OS, for the same reasons cited by OP

Welp, maybe I'll finally have to get around to installing some sort of anti-virus/malware software after 20 years of macOS and/or Linux. At least the system architecture isn't quite as much of a dumpster fire as Windows' is, but nothing is invulnerable when there's enough incentive

Naw. This is just FUD. I mean itā€™s coming from Accenture ffs.

Keep calm and keep computing.

I agree, Accenture is not a reliable source.

"Does your company have macs? Mac attacks are up 1000% percent. If you don't have the IT resources to install antivirus on all your shiny macs, you can pay us to do it for you."

Yep. Seems to be a sensationalized piece that basically boils down to "Mac market share in enterprise is now more than a rounding error, so hackers might start targeting it"

Anker did just that. Turned out you could just copy paste the url into VLC and watch someoneā€™s feed without them even knowing. They suppressed the info and hid.

Yeah I'm not exactly in a hurry here, but more widespread malware is still just a question of incentive. macOS isn't invulnerable, it's just mainly been a smaller and less easy target so it's not gotten the same sort of attention as Windows

Every software has holes. Not saying macOS is bullet proof. But itā€™s much harder to infect thanks to its Unix core and the fact the entire OS is on a read only partition. That with their own anti malware tool (Gatekeeper) that took on a much more active roll in macOSā€™s defenses come Ventura.

Iā€™m far more worried Apple replaces macOS or closes it just like all their other OSes and we end up bouncing between jailbreaks.

The general recommendation is to configure your system to allow the use of the minimum number of privileges. If you don't have the need to use software that doesn't come from a trusted repository (like the Apple App Store itself, but also things like homebrew), go ahead and turn off the ability to run software from other sources. If you're coding, make sure your code is properly sandboxed, and that you're not blindly relying on untested packages (see compromised npm packages). Don't give apps accessibility or other rights if they don't need them, etc. And then stay current on all software updates.

Even zero-days often rely on certain configurations, and you can always lock down the built-in apps to not auto-run or auto-preview things they receive. Some of it requires an active user maintenance to decide how to balance convenience versus security on your own system.

The trick is to use an operating system so niche and different that no one is prepared to hack it.

For those who take this seriously: don't. Security by obscurity does not work.

I practice security through obsolescence instead, all my data is stored on 3 1/2ā€ floppies and if I need to send someone a voice message I post it on a cassette.

I know a couple of greybeards who're building a SCO UNIX virtual machine to troll skiddies. I wonder if they're going to sneak it onto the network at hacker summer camp.