Several new variants of Atomic macOS Stealer, or AMOS have been observed that are intended to exfiltrate sensitive data from affected Macs.
AMOS is transmitted by Trojan horses, which frequently pose as allegedly pirated or “cracked” versions of apps.
It is intended to steal private information from cryptocurrency wallets, cookies, autofill text fields, and saved passwords.
“ In recent months, AMOS Trojan horses often pretend to be the legitimate apps they mimic; they employ elaborate campaigns, leveraging malicious Google Ads that link to lookalike homepages with Trojan downloads”, Intego shared with Cyber Security News.
Recent Variants of AMOS
The most recent versions of AMOS, according to researchers, disseminate themselves as different kinds of apps and are delivered via DMG disk images such as Fake “File Juicer” and “Debit & Credit” app installers.
When mounted, at least two disk images contain a single application named “AppleApp” with an installer-like icon.
A Trojanized version of File Juicer, an application for extracting embedded files from different document formats, is launched by one type of fake installation.
The actual app is $19.
A Trojanized version of the personal financial app Debit & Credit, which is typically exclusively accessible through the Mac App Store, is launched by a second fake-installer variant.
The actual application may be downloaded for free, but there is a $19.99 in-app purchase for a “premium version.”
When mounted, a different disk image contains the single application “WorldParallel.”
Researchers found that this Trojan imitates Parallel, an NFT-based digital trading card game exclusive to Windows that is marketed by its creator as “a Sci-Fi world and Card Game.”
Once more, a few AMOS prototypes imitated the productivity software Notion.
Researchers reported in February that malicious Google Ads imitating genuine Notion software advertisements were how AMOS was propagating.
The AMOS team is probably up to their normal behaviors, which include poisoning Google Ads.
Hackers frequently pay Google to run sponsored adverts in the top spot, disguising them as genuine advertisements for software that complies.
The advertisements show up just above the search results, so if you click on them without looking closely, you can end up on a malware distribution website rather than the official website of the software creator.
Further, researchers alert users to the fact that the secondary payload is incorporated in the first stage (dropper) apps.
The embedded payload was unobfuscated (i.e., clearly visible) in certain instances.
In other instances, the embedded payload was Base64 encoded in an inadequate attempt to conceal the payload from antivirus programs.
Recommendation
To avoid future infections or if you think your Mac might be affected, it is recommended that you use antivirus software from a reputable Mac developer.
Award-winning antivirus software with real-time protection, VirusBarrier was created by Mac security professionals.
It is advised that users break the practice of “just Google it” to identify reliable websites.
These behaviors frequently involve blindly clicking on the first link in the list, believing that Google would guide them correctly and display the appropriate result at the top.
A better strategy than “Google it” would be to bookmark reliable websites whenever you can and return to them later, at least until Google improves the quality of its ad screening.
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