Jamf also noted the hacker could upgrade the malware to try and bypass the security restrictions in macOS Ventura. “At the time of writing, the pirated Photoshop uploaded by wtfisthat34698409672 still successfully launches both the malicious and working components on the latest version of macOS Ventura 13.2 and earlier,” the company added. That said, the cryptocurrency miner secretly embedded in the pirated software can still execute.

The pirated version of Final Cut Pro will fail to launch on macOS Ventura, resulting in an error message.

However, Jamf found the malware can struggle to run on the newly launched macOS Ventura, thanks to new security safeguards in the operating system. “As a result, if the victim notices that their CPU is running hotter than normal while unwittingly mining crypto for the attacker, and opens the Activity Monitor to confirm their suspicion, the malware stops its activity and hides until the next time the victim launches the application.” “If it finds the Activity Monitor, it immediately terminates all of its malicious processes,” Jamf said. Interestingly, the malware contains a feature that’ll check whether the user has accessed the Mac’s Activity Monitor app, which can show CPU usage. Jamf says the malware has been evolving since 2019, when the hacker initially began uploading the pirated but malicious Mac software. At the time, Trend Micro wasn’t able to uncover the exact source, but it did speculate the infection came from an Adobe Photoshop CC installation. The malware itself shares similarities with another sample that antivirus provider Trend Micro discovered a year ago. “Furthermore, we found that virtually every one of the dozens of uploads that began in 2019 was compromised with a malicious payload to surreptitiously mine cryptocurrency,” Jamf said. This includes posting malware-laden versions of Logic Pro and Photoshop. We now had our answer,” the security researchers said.Īccording to Jamf, an uploader on The Pirate Bay named “wtfisthat34698409672”-who has a years-long history of posting bootleg Mac software-is responsible for not only circulating the malware, but also pushing other variants of the malicious code. It matched the hash of the infected Final Cut Pro we had discovered in the wild. “We downloaded the most recent torrent (for Final Cut Pro) with the highest number of seeders and checked the hash of the application executable. Since the malware arrived through an unauthorized and modified version of Final Cut Pro, Jamf turned to The Pirate Bay, a website notorious for offering bootleg software through torrents. Since January 2023, a handful of vendors have detected the malware,” it said. 'This particular sample was not detected as malicious by any security vendors on VirusTotal. Jamf first spotted the malware secretly mining cryptocurrency on a customer’s Mac computer.

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