Mac Crypto Trojan Horse Discovered, Apple Chips a Rich Target
Minneapolis-based cybersecurity firm Jamf Threat Labs found a crypto-jacking program well hidden in pirated copies of Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Jamf warns that Apple chip speed will make Macs increasingly popular targets for malware attacks.
In its report, Jamf said:
“During routine monitoring of our threat detections in the wild, we encountered an alert indicating the use of XMRig, a command-line tool for cryptomining. While XMRig is often used for legitimate purposes, its adaptable, open-source design has also made it a popular choice for malicious actors actors.”
Apple’s software cybersecurity firm found unauthorized copies of Apple’s video editing software to be a Trojan horse. Unknown to petty cyberthieves who pirated the Apple software, it ran XMRig to mine crypto using their computer.
Report warns that crypto malware for Mac will become more widespread
The Jamf report continues:
“This particular instance was of interest to us as it was carried out under the guise of the Apple-developed video editing software, Final Cut Pro. Further investigation revealed that this malicious version of Final Cut Pro contained a modification unauthorized by Apple that ran XMRig in the background.”
The security firm warns that “cryptojacking” malware will become an increasingly widespread threat to Mac users with the power of Apple ARM processors today.
Adware has traditionally been the most widespread type of macOS malware, but cryptojacking, a stealthy and large-scale cryptomining operation, is becoming more widespread. Given that crypto-mining requires a significant amount of processing power, it is likely that the ongoing advances in Apple ARM processors will make macOS devices even more attractive targets for cryptojacking.”
Apple’s M1 16-core Neural Engine processor is capable of 11 trillion operations per second. It represents a 15x increase in machine learning performance compared to previous M1s.
What makes Apple chips so fast?
It’s a volume game
Pro Tools Experts explain:
“The M1 is not just a processor chip, it’s what’s called a System-on-a-Chip or SoC for short. What that means is that unlike computers to date, where the components that make up a computer are individual parts mounted on a motherboard, an SoC, like the Apple M1, brings together an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (7-core in some MacBook Air models), unified memory, SSD controller, image signal processor, Secure Enclave, on one chip.”
Like the most powerful mass production GPUs on the market today, Apple Silicon can actually squeeze out a small profit by doing some cryptocurrency mining.
Back in November 2021, 9to5Mac ran some numbers on using a MacBook Pro to mine cryptocurrency when you’re not using it, and concluded after electricity costs that it could earn something like 42 cents per day.
