The authors of notorious Mac adware found a workaround to fool Apple’s app notarization mechanism into allowing their code to run on Macs. The strain known as Shlayer can easily slip below the radar by making the system think it’s safe, while it’s not. In early 2020, Apple brought extra protection to the Mac by extensively checking third-party applications for dodgy characteristics such as code-signing inconsistencies.

A security enthusiast has published details on a Safari vulnerability Apple was planning to fix only a year after acknowledging the reported bug. The vulnerability was originally discovered by Pawel Wylecial who works for Poland-based cybersecurity services firm REDTEAM.PL. Technically, it is a bug in Web Share API, an interface allowing users to share browser content, such as text, links, and files, via third-party apps.

It may be problematic to tell a regular macOS process from a copycat deposited by malware. This caveat goes for imklaunchagent, an entity originally intended to facilitate multilingual input on Apple computers. In some scenarios, it may cause the CPU usage to skyrocket. The root cause for this drag can be either a system bug or malicious interference invoked by dubious code. This hands-on tutorial covers the differences and explains how to fix the problem.

As Apple releases new iterations of its operating system annually, a handful of new features are usually added and the user interface undergoes tweaks, too. What sticks around throughout these updates is the built-in Safari browser. Unsurprisingly, Mac adware authors tailor their campaigns to fit this context and coin threats that focus on taking over Safari preferences. Most of these hijackers redirect the browser to unwanted sites without users’ consent.

A sneaky strain of malware dubbed XCSSET is doing the rounds via poisoned Xcode projects, mostly affecting Safari and other browsers running on a victim’s Mac. The unorthodox infection chain has been recently discovered by a team of researchers at Trend Micro. According to their findings, malicious actors are exploiting Xcode projects to host and spread harmful payloads. For those uninitiated, Xcode is an integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS.

Online tech support scams are on the rise for a reason. They are so prolific and effective because their essence is twofold. One facet involves a piece of malware that hijacks a browser, and the other revolves around exploiting human credulity and desire to keep a computer safe. The large-scale Zeus virus scam wave is quickly gaining momentum as an instrument to defraud Mac users of their money.