“Researchers at a Silicon Valley security company said on Wednesday that they had found a new manner in which hackers can infect Apple products,” Nicole Perlroth reports for The New York Times. “The company, Palo Alto Networks, reported that it had uncovered a malware campaign called WireLurker targeting Apple mobile and desktop users and said it was ‘the biggest in scale we have ever seen.'”
“Though the malware — malicious software designed to cause damage or steal information — is aimed at users in China and can be avoided, the campaign demonstrates new ways that attackers are targeting Apple iOS mobile devices,” Perlroth reports. “The security company, based in Santa Clara, Calif., said that WireLurker had infected more than 400 applications designed for Apple’s Mac OS X operating system through the Maiyadi App Store, a third-party Mac application store in China. In the last six months, Palo Alto Networks said 467 infected applications were downloaded over 356,104 times and ‘may have impacted hundreds of thousands of users.'”
“The company said users’ iOS devices could also become infected if they connected their mobile device to their Macs through a USB wire. ‘WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken,’ Palo Alto Networks security researchers said. ‘This is the reason we call it ‘wire lurker,”” Perlroth reports. “The firm’s advice to Mac and iOS users is to avoid downloading Mac applications or games from any third-party app store, download site or untrusted source, or connecting an iOS device to any untrusted accessories or computers. They also advise users to keep iOS software up to date.”
Read more in the full article here.
Palo Alto Networks recommends that users take the following actions to mitigate the threat from WireLurker and similar threats:
• Enterprises should assure their mobile device traffic is routed through a threat prevention system using a mobile security application like GlobalProtect
Employ an antivirus or security protection product for the Mac OS X system and keep its signatures up-to-date
• In the OS X System Preferences panel under “Security & Privacy,” ensure “Allow apps downloaded from Mac App Store (or Mac App Store and identified developers)” is set
• Do not download and run Mac applications or games from any third-party app store, download site or other untrusted source
• Keep the iOS version on your device up-to-date
• Do not accept any unknown enterprise provisioning profile unless an authorized, trusted party (e.g. your IT corporate help desk) explicitly instructs you to do so
• Do not pair your iOS device with untrusted or unknown computers or devices
• Avoid powering your iOS device through chargers from untrusted or unknown sources
• Similarly, avoid connecting iOS devices with untrusted or unknown accessories or computers (Mac or PC)
• Do not jailbreak your iOS device; If you do jailbreak it, only use credible Cydia community sources and avoid the use or storage of sensitive personal information on that device
MacDailyNews Take: Those who venture outside the Apple ecosystem do so at their own risk.
Here’s our usual oft-repeated reminder for Mac users and anyone who’s trying to use any other platform: Do not download and authorize the installation of applications (Trojans) from untrusted sources. No OS can protect users from themselves (or we wouldn’t be able to install any software). Those who grant attackers access to their Macs, should not be surprised to find their Macs are compromised.
Related articles:
There’s practically no iOS malware, thanks to Apple’s smart control over app distribution – June 13, 2014
F-Secure: Android accounted for 99% of new mobile malware in Q1 2014 – April 30, 2014
Google’s Sundar Pichai: Android not designed to be safe; if I wrote malware, I’d target Android, too – February 27, 2014
Cisco: Android the target of 99 percent of world’s mobile malware – January 17, 2014
U.S. DHS, FBI warn of malware threats to Android mobile devices – August 27, 2013
Android app malware rates skyrocket 40 percent in last quarter – August 7, 2013
First malware found in wild that exploits Android app signing flaw – July 25, 2013
Mobile Threats Report: Android accounts for 92% of all mobile malware – June 26, 2013
Latest self-replicating Android Trojan looks and acts just like Windows malware – June 7, 2013
99.9% of new mobile malware targets Android phones – May 30, 2013