Cybersecurity Experts Warn of Dangerous Malware That Bypasses Apple Devices and Hides Behind Ads:

hacker
hacker

A group of cybersecurity experts at the American company «Microsoft» has detected a new evolution of a program that bypasses the (Apple) Mac operating system known as (UpdateAgent),

Initially, this program was stealing operating system information and collecting data until late 2020,

but after that it transformed into an adware delivery tool and began hiding behind even greater direct threats.

(Gatekeeper) is Apple’s built-in system that allows only trusted and approved applications to run and pass through on Mac devices, according to the specialized website ZDNet,

and the alarming fact here is that (UpdateAgent) is capable of infiltrating this system and bypassing it entirely.

 

Microsoft Announces That This Malware Is Under Continuous Development:

 

Microsoft has stated that it has flagged this program as being under continuous development,

which constantly works to install a new threat in the form of adware called (Adload).

The company warned of this program’s ability to distribute double these numbers in the future.

 

How UpdateAgent Works:

 

When the victim installs the program — which is disguised as a legitimate application such as a video app or an advertised product promoted through pop-up pages and windows —

this malware uses its ability to bypass Apple’s Gatekeeper system, which serves as the protection shield at this point, and remarkably, it bypasses it with complete ease.

After bypassing this program, it uses the permissions of the current user or device administrator, then brazenly deletes all traces of its presence on the system as if nothing had happened!!

 

When this program was first discovered last year — when it was only stealing information and spying on existing data —

it was assigned several updates to ensure it remained on the device for as long as possible and to improve the continuity of its performance effectively, which truly allowed it to persist for a long time.

 

In January 2021, when this program managed to fetch even more malicious files such as (dmg) files for the (macOS) operating system.

 

Why Is Microsoft Interested in Apple Devices:

 

Microsoft gives attention to this issue — or rather to malware targeting the (Mac) operating system — with an eye toward one of its own interests, which is expanding the use of its browser Microsoft Edge (Microsoft Edge) on Mac devices in order to gain popularity among Apple and Mac users in general. This is also driven by its vision that its browser supports and uses (Microsoft Defender SmartScreen), which is Microsoft’s direct protection against blocking malicious websites — and this is where the significant interest lies.

 

This will also enable the use of (Microsoft Defender for Endpoint enterprise security platform)

to detect and track this malware (UpdateAgent) and Apple’s (PlistBuddy) tool for managing files and applications on Mac OS.

 

Cybersecurity Experts Warn of Dangerous Malware That Bypasses Apple Devices and Hides Behind Ads:

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