Minneapolis-based cybersecurity firm Jamf Threat Labs has discovered a cryptojacking program well hidden in pirated copies of Apple's Final Cut Pro. Jamf warns that the speed of Apple's chips will make Macs increasingly targets for malware attacks.
"During routine monitoring of our threat detections in the wild, we encountered an alert indicating the use of XMRig, a command-line cryptomining tool. While XMRig is often used for legitimate purposes, its adaptable open-source The design also makes it a popular choice for malicious actors."
The Apple Software cybersecurity firm has discovered that unauthorized copies of Apple's video editing software are a Trojan horse program. Unbeknownst to any petty cyberthieves pirating Apple software, it is running XMRig to use their computers to mine cryptocurrency.
The Jamf report continues: "We were interested in this particular instance because it was executed under the guise of Final Cut Pro, a video editing software developed by Apple. Further investigation revealed that this malicious version of Final Cut Pro contained a modification not authorized by Apple, in the Executing XMRig in the background."
The security firm has warned that "cryptojacking" malware will become an increasingly common threat to today's Mac users with Apple's ARM processors.
Adware has traditionally been the most prevalent type of macOS malware, but cryptojacking, a stealthy, large-scale cryptomining scheme, is becoming more common. Given the amount of processing power required for cryptomining, continued advancements in Apple's ARM processors are likely to make macOS devices more attractive targets for cryptojacking. " Apple's M1 16-core Neural Engine processor is capable of 11 trillion operations per second. This represents a 15x improvement in machine learning performance over the earlier M1.
A Pro Tools expert explains: "The M1 is not just a processor chip, it's called a system on a chip or SoC for short. This means that, unlike computers to date, the components that make up a computer are separate parts mounted on a motherboard, a SoC, like the Apple M1, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU (7-cores in some MacBook Air models), unified memory, SSD controller, image signal processor, Secure Enclave, all on one chip."
Like the most powerful mass-produced GPUs on the market today, the Apple Silicon can actually squeeze a small profit by doing some cryptocurrency mining.
Back in November 2021, 9to5Mac did some calculations on using your MacBook Pro to mine cryptocurrency when you're not using it, and concluded that it could make around 42 cents a day after deducting electricity bills.
