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Russian Cyberspies Blamed For US Election Hacks Are Now Targeting Macs (computerworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the further-expansion dept.

You may recall "APT28", the Russian hacking group which was tied to last year's interference in the presidential election. It has long been known for its advanced range of tools for penetrating Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux devices. Now, researchers have uncovered an equally sophisticated malware package the group used to compromise Macs. From a report on ComputerWorld: The group -- known in the security industry under different names including Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm, and APT28 -- has been operating for almost a decade. It is believed to be the sole user and likely developer of a Trojan program called Sofacy or X-Agent. X-Agent variants for Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS have been found in the wild in the past, but researchers from Bitdefender have now come across what appears to be the first macOS version of the Trojan. It's not entirely clear how the malware is being distributed because the Bitdefender researchers obtained only the malware sample, not the full attack chain. However, it's possible a macOS malware downloader dubbed Komplex, found in September, might be involved. Komplex infected Macs by exploiting a known vulnerability in the MacKeeper antivirus software, according to researchers from Palo Alto Networks who investigated the malware at the time. The vulnerability allowed attackers to execute remote commands on a Mac when users visited specially crafted web pages.Further reading on ArsTechnica.

4 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Let's be clear on what we mean by election hacking by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They sent John Podesta a bogus email, and he clicked the link. Because of that, we now know the entire DNC plotted against Bernie. The only actual "election hacking" that took place is how the democratic party apparatus chose and coronated the only possible person who could lose to Donald Trump (of all people).

    But blame Russia.

  2. Mackeeper is utter shit by Camembert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So now MacKeeper is an antivirus software? Rather it is the company with the most annoying popups anywhere for Mac users. Useless software that is aggressively marketed.

  3. Re:Let's be clear on what we mean by election hack by jcr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    there is ZERO proof the DNC "rigged" anything.

    Oh, get serious. The whole "superdelegate" apparatus exists only to thwart the will of the voters.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  4. Re:Let's be clear on what we mean by election hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Clinton got debate questions in 2 debates, from CNN.
    Clinton did fund raisers with down-ticket people. There is a cap (a couple thousand) that someone can donate to a candidate. The DNC set her up with numerous other Congress runners so the cap was number of people * cap, then Clinton took 98% of what was donated in that event. A rule the DNC recently wrote into the law obviously intending to do this. The DNC refused to help Sanders in the same way.
    The DNC would give stories to "favorable journalists" to smear Sanders a week before primaries in states.
    They ALSO had the superdelegates if needed.

    You should be SHOCKED that the press worked so closely with Clinton to torpedo Sanders (unreported donations and illegal for media to do so). You should ALSO be shocked the DNC rewrote campaign finance laws to abuse them the way they did, I doubt you could find anyone who says that is fair.