Contrary to the widely held belief that viruses can’t infect Mac devices, researchers say there are about 300 malware families targeting the macOS platform, and 21 new ones emerged in 2023.
According to a new report by Jamf, trojan viruses make up about 17.96 percent of all Mac malware and “represent a significant risk” to the macOS platform, exploiting deceptive methods to deliver malicious payloads.
Besides Macs, the report notes that iOS devices are also not immune to cyber threats. In 2023, iOS devices were targeted by sophisticated spyware like Pegasus.
“While Apple continues doubling down on security and privacy protections across its hardware and software line, these findings show that they aren’t immune to the threat trends increasingly targeting,” Jamf’s Annual Trends Report said.
Jamf, known for its enterprise management solutions for Apple devices, examined 15 million devices for this report. The study spanned 90 countries over a 12-month period leading up to 2024.
Growing Threats to Apple Devices
Despite Apple’s stringent security measures, vulnerabilities persist in its ecosystem, affecting individuals and organizations. Jamf’s report highlighted several Mac malware to watch out for, including Atomic Stealer, JokerSpy, KandyKorn, and LockBit.
LockBit was a key threat to Apple devices, emerging as the first major ransomware group to target the macOS platform directly. Atomic Stealer, on the other hand, showcased a sophisticated approach to info-stealing by exploiting AppleScript dialog functions to trick users into surrendering their credentials, thereafter accessing sensitive information from the macOS keychain.
Jamf also discovered a critical lapse in basic security practices, with 55 percent of Macs having the firewall feature disabled and 36 percent of devices with FileVault disabled. Moreover, three percent of devices had their lock screen disabled, and 25 percent of organizations had at least one user with their lock screen disabled.
Additionally, the emergence of cryptojacking — affecting one percent of devices and nine percent of organizations — highlights the financial motivations driving attackers to exploit Apple devices.
iOS devices aren’t safe, either. Jamf’s Threat Labs said cyber threats are evolving, and criminals are devising new ways to compromise devices. The report highlighted how attackers use fake lockdown and fake airplane mode to trick users into believing their devices are secure when they are, in fact, exposed.
How to Protect Your Apple Devices
Given these alarming findings, we recommend protecting your devices by:
- Frequently updating your operating system and applications. This simple yet critical step can significantly reduce the risk of vulnerabilities that attackers exploit.
- Using a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt your traffic. Check out our articles on the top VPNs for Mac and the top VPNs for iOS for some recommendations.
- Activating FileVault to encrypt your entire drive, and provide additional data protection.
- Turning on the macOS firewall to monitor and control incoming network traffic based on predetermined security rules.
- Configuring a secure lock screen with a strong password or biometric authentication to prevent unauthorized access in case you lose your device or it gets stolen.
- Only downloading apps from third-party app stores.
- Learning about the dangers of phishing and how to spot phishing attacks.
For organizations:
- Implement a zero-trust security model that requires all users to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated for security before being granted access to data and applications.
- Employ network monitoring tools to detect and respond to suspicious or malicious network activity.
“Our intention with this analysis is not to invoke fear but instead to educate organizations and users on the evolving cybersecurity trends that currently exist, as well as those that stand further to impact the security posture of devices and organizations alike,” Jamf said.
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