Despite reports that Bitcoins are near enough dead, hackers have created another Mac Trojan that attacks your computer’s GPU in a bid to generate the digital dollars, as well as your precious personal information.
The hack has been named by anti-virus organizations as ‘DevilRobber’, and it’s currently being distributed by torrent websites. It installs a Java-based application onto your Mac called ‘DiabloMiner’, a combination of a Trojan horse, a backdoor, and a “stealer” that thieves your personal data and any Bitcoins that may be on your computer, according to security vendor Intego.
If you’re unfamiliar with Bitcoin, it’s the first decentralized digital currency that you can send over the internet. There’s no middleman, which means the fees to send and receive Bitcoins are much lower than similar services, and you can use them worldwide. Bitcoins are generated by ‘miners’ that donate their computer’s CPU to solving certain mathematical problems, which are difficult to perform.
The first sign of an infected system is unusually slow performance, Graham Cluley of Sophos wrote in a blog post, adding:
It’s becoming clearer every week that Mac users need to take malware protection more seriously by running anti-virus software.
Now that security experts are aware of the issue, however, an upcoming patch or update to your virus definition list is expected imminently.
Have you been affected by the latest Mac malware?
[via Gizmodo]
