Researchers: North Korean hackers develop new malware that can bypass Apple notarization and infiltrate macOS systems
According to ChainCatcher news reported by Cointelegraph, North Korean hackers appear to have developed malware that can evade Apple's security checks. Researchers at Jamf Threat Labs, who focus on Apple, indicate that these applications seem to be experimental. This is the first time they have seen such technology used to infiltrate Apple's macOS operating system, but it does not run on the latest systems.
Researchers found that Microsoft's VirusTotal online scanning service reported these applications as harmless, but they are actually malicious. Variants of these applications are written in Go and Python, utilizing Google Flutter applications. Flutter is an open-source development toolkit used for creating cross-platform applications.
Out of six malicious applications, five are signed with developer accounts and have been temporarily notarized by Apple. Researchers wrote, "The domains and techniques in the malware are very similar to those used in other North Korean hacker malware, with indications that the malware was once signed and even temporarily passed Apple's notarization process."