Computers are lovely things, reuniting people from all over the world and letting you find the world’s information at the press of a button. The problem with computers is that with them being connected comes a risk and it looks like someone has taken the risk to a whole new level for Mac users as they are targeting by not one but three new strains of malware that access webcams, passwords and open up your computer for all to see and control.
Malware is often given unique names and the first one is no different, dubbed Elanor by the researchers who discovered it at Bitdefender. Elanor is hidden within the EasyDoc Convertor program, found on the software site MacUpdate. Elanor is that house guest you never want to have over if you’ve got indoor pets because the first thing it does is leaves your backdoor wide open ready for someone to remotely access your files and even your webcam. If this wasn’t bad enough the malware communicates via the Tor network, meaning that it’s particularly hard to track or identify its creators. Elanor won’t install itself if you’re running Little Snitch, a program designed to monitor and track applications use of the internet.
Keydnap acts just like its name sounds, kidnapping and siphoning passwords and crypto keys from the Mac’s keychain. This means that you could suddenly lose access to any passwords you’ve stored on your device, often opening up your accounts for banking, social media and even shopping for abuse.
Finally, we come to Pirrit. While not as aggressive as the other malware, it does still create a backdoor giving its creators full control and access to your system. While initial attempts to remove the software had failed thanks to it mutating, the current use of Pirrit would appear to be nothing more than just to throw a barrage of pop-up adverts at the user.
With malware becoming increasingly more difficult to track, find and eliminate, users are all the more responsible for creating backups of their data, using unique passwords and tracking their bank accounts activity in the constant battle to stop malicious software spreading and controlling lives.
