Dangerous threats for macOS users
Two hostile players, Pirrit and Bundlor, have emerged in the digital world, targeting in particular computers running Apple’s macOS operating system. They have recently been joined in the Czech Republic and Slovakia by the MaxOfferDeal adware, as warned by security experts at Eset. Pirrit, the long-time king of viruses, saw a significant increase in activity in February. Novinky.cz previously warned of an increased number of detections.
Currently, Pirrit is behind one in eight attacks, while other malware targeting macOS makes up only a small part of the threat. The number of Pirrit detections has increased dramatically from 3.27% in January to 11.9% in the past month. Before Christmas, however, this uninvited guest was even more active, being detected a record 39.1% of the time.
The adware’s presence manifests itself in an annoying number of pop-ups with various advertising offers, often in an incredibly annoying way, when some windows cannot be closed or users are overwhelmed,” warned Jiří Kropáč, head of Eset’s virus lab in Brno.
These malicious codes usually download additional adware or unwanted browser add-ons to devices without users’ consent. “Attackers can use adware to display fraudulent ads or banner ads with links to dangerous websites,” Kropáč said.
Aggressive advertising is also the main target of Bundlore and MaxOfferDeal malicious codes, which are among the most common threats to the macOS platform. MaxOfferDeal is also spread through search engine optimization, SEO or online marketing tools. Therefore, users should only download apps from official stores such as the App Store for macOS, where they are regularly checked by security teams. Below you can find a list of other threats that users in the Czech Republic and Slovakia may have encountered most frequently on Apple computers in the past month.
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