A recently uncovered zer0-click Apple zero-day flaw, used in a spyware campaign against Al Jazeera journalists, shed light this week on the impact of Apple security issues being abused by bad actors.
In 2020, the security research community saw an array of “powerful” Apple bugs afflicting iOS, iPhone and more – and at the same time, cybercriminals stepped up their game, with new attacks leveraging legitimate Apple functionalities, said Patrick Wardle, principal security researcher with Jamf.
Wardle said the top Apple threat trends of 2020 included an influx of adware targeting Apple victims and the continual proliferation of the Lazarus APT group in the MacOS space. Apple has also faced a slew of other security issues this year, such as a feature in the latest Big Sur release of macOS that allows some Apple apps to bypass content filters and VPNs.
As more enterprises continue to embrace Macs and Apple products continue to gain popularity, Wardle said that cybercriminals will only continue to target MacOS victims in 2021: “Mac attacks – and Mac malware – isn’t going away anytime soon,” he stressed.
Watch the full ThreatpostNOW video interview with Patrick Wardle, below:
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