Warning: Cthulhu Stealer Malware for macOS

[Kemarit]

We thought that when we used MacOS we could be safe from hackers and other cyber criminals because 80% of them are targeting Windows base OS because it's very easy for them.

However, there group of criminals who developed a malware in MacOS and it's called Cthulhu Stealer.



And for those who have been using MacOS (including myself), we are all familiar Apple disk image (DMG), and in this case, this supposedly installer has 2 binaries in it. And once you mounted it, gonna be all over for us. As it will ask for you MetaMask password, and then looking at other cryptocurrency wallet as well,






Again, I'm a MacOS user so I just want to share with you guys because for sure there are a lot of us who go to MacBook to have at least stay away from malwares but it's a very dangerous world that we live in right now. No one is immune, but we can educate ourselves to stay away from this kind of attacks.

https://www.cadosecurity.com/blog/from-the-depths-analyzing-the-cthulhu-stealer-malware-for-macos

[sunsilk]

One of the reasons why a person will become a victim of this malware is by not purchasing games like GTA IV from Steam or any other official platforms as well as the apps that it copies and is being searched for its cracked version. That's the cost of someone looking for a pirated version of it.

So, this malware copies apps and games like GTA IV. And those who like to download free things and pirated/cracked versions are always the target of these kinds of malware.

When victims call for help, they won't admit that they have downloaded some crazy stuff on the internet for free and will blame that they've been hacked directly. But in reality, they gave these hackers a free pass through malware like this.

[Jating]

One of the reasons why a person will become a victim of this malware is by not purchasing games like GTA IV from Steam or any other official platforms as well as the apps that it copies and is being searched for its cracked version. That's the cost of someone looking for a pirated version of it.

So, this malware copies apps and games like GTA IV. And those who like to download free things and pirated/cracked versions are always the target of these kinds of malware.

When victims call for help, they won't admit that they have downloaded some crazy stuff on the internet for free and will blame that they've been hacked directly. But in reality, they gave these hackers a free pass through malware like this.

Yes, and just like the rest of how this malware spreads, it is thru downloading fake or crack softwares. Yes, we all know the dangers of it for crypto enthusiast and even if we uses a MacOS who is not susceptible to this kind of attacks, still though we need to be on guard all the time.

This criminals knows our weaknesses and so they take advantage of it. And as I have said before, if we have a lot of money in one of our online machines being used for crypto, it's better to have a separate PC for our non-crypto activities, it's better safe that sorry.

[Lafu]

The Cthulhu Stealer Malware is already active since the end of 2023 and not really something new.
Its advanced version of the Atomic Stealer Malware and they took the Basic code from it for creating the Cthulhu Stealer Malware.
As sunsilk already has written you can avoid that all for not downloading cracked Software or game versions.

Source : https://www.mactechnews.de/news/article/Gefaehrliche-Malware-Cthulhu-Stealer-in-Umlauf-185558.html

[Mia Chloe]

Though currently I'm not a Mac user, I'll say based on my experience so far, Mac has really been relatively more difficult for hackers to compromise compared to the windows software with lots of vulnerabilities. In fact no OS is totally say , as I read in some detailed article sometime ago, even Linux Ubuntu OS has a boot vulnerability that allows hackers to access the pc via the boot log process.

Anyways +1 op for sharing this as it would create awareness for Mac users here on the forum.
As for the malware, many users who get infected with these malwares are those that do not get their software from the original and legit sources probably because they are in search of a cracked version that they wish to make use of.

[Davidvictorson]

This is another confirmation that no one is safe from scammers and hackers. The only way to be safe if you leave off grid without using any electronic device. It even seems right now that antivirus software doesn't work and that's there is an increase in malware all over the internet. Meaning that at some point in the users lifetime their computer system would either face this threat or will be a victim. Even though I don't use a Mac, this information about the Cthulhu Stealer Malware for macOS is still very relevant for me because today it is a malware for macOS, tomorrow it will be a malware for Windows.

[albon]

This is another confirmation that no one is safe from scammers and hackers. The only way to be safe if you leave off grid without using any electronic device. It even seems right now that antivirus software doesn't work and that's there is an increase in malware all over the internet. Meaning that at some point in the users lifetime their computer system would either face this threat or will be a victim.

Any system, no matter how secure, will undoubtedly be hacked when its user neglects the necessary security measures and uses it to randomly download untrusted applications, programs, and games from outside the official stores and websites.

The fault lies with the user and not with the system he uses. In addition, the presence of important data, like the list OP mentioned, on the user's device from many wallets that malware can access places importance on isolating crypto wallets from the device used to download these cracked games and similar activities. The security features in the system and antivirus can be additional layers to increase the user's protection against breaches. For Windows, the Sandbox feature can be used to create a virtual environment for testing away from the main system. The more secure and cautious you are, the less likely you will become a victim, so do not worry.

[348Judah]

We thought that when we used MacOS we could be safe from hackers and other cyber criminals because 80% of them are targeting Windows base OS because it's very easy for them.

However, there group of criminals who developed a malware in MacOS and it's called Cthulhu Stealer.

Scammers are everywhere and the funniest thing about them is that they keep making updates on their scam operating routes every day, this is another way which they just developed and those that would have least expect for such a thing my carelessly ignore the danger signal when coming in contact with their threats, i will leave this as an advise that we should always make sure that we verify and confirm on everything we are doing online, their mode of attack has no limit now and we also have to keep ourself updated.

[nelson4lov]

Thanks for the heads up, OP. The reason why MacOS is not usually a target for hackers is due to its superior software. To avoid getting affected by malwares and viruses, I only download software from official sources and if a software is paid and I don't have the money to paid for it, I don't go ahead to download a pirated version because pirated versions of software can sometimes have well packaged malwares to go along with it.

[Dave1]

Thanks for the heads up, OP. The reason why MacOS is not usually a target for hackers is due to its superior software.

Yes, they have superior modelling that's why hackers do not write code to target them. But now they want to challenge them as well and became a target. So it's really up to know that we are also in their hairline right now.

But, we should thank members here who give us warning like this one and hope that others too will be inquisitive and then tell us what is going on around as far as MacOS are. No one is safe right now.

[hugeblack]

It seems that even after the hacker successfully installs the malware on your computer, they still require you to enter the password, so these are still low-level attacks that can be used to gather more information for a social attack. In general, using an air-gapped system to create your wallet is easy and then you can easily avoid 99% of these attacks.

[sunsilk]

One of the reasons why a person will become a victim of this malware is by not purchasing games like GTA IV from Steam or any other official platforms as well as the apps that it copies and is being searched for its cracked version. That's the cost of someone looking for a pirated version of it.

So, this malware copies apps and games like GTA IV. And those who like to download free things and pirated/cracked versions are always the target of these kinds of malware.

When victims call for help, they won't admit that they have downloaded some crazy stuff on the internet for free and will blame that they've been hacked directly. But in reality, they gave these hackers a free pass through malware like this.

Yes, and just like the rest of how this malware spreads, it is thru downloading fake or crack softwares. Yes, we all know the dangers of it for crypto enthusiast and even if we uses a MacOS who is not susceptible to this kind of attacks, still though we need to be on guard all the time.

This criminals knows our weaknesses and so they take advantage of it. And as I have said before, if we have a lot of money in one of our online machines being used for crypto, it's better to have a separate PC for our non-crypto activities, it's better safe that sorry.

Separating your important activities through your PC or laptop is a good thing to do for those who want to avoid them and remove the headache. But being informed on how someone can contain and become a victim of it is the best thing.

Sadly, not everyone can be informed as they feel not obliged to help themselves do some research.

And another thing, buy the software that you need as well as the games that you'd love to play. Avoid those websites that are offering free cracked versions of software. I'm not an expert but I've learned that in the process being a computer user.

[Jating]

One of the reasons why a person will become a victim of this malware is by not purchasing games like GTA IV from Steam or any other official platforms as well as the apps that it copies and is being searched for its cracked version. That's the cost of someone looking for a pirated version of it.

So, this malware copies apps and games like GTA IV. And those who like to download free things and pirated/cracked versions are always the target of these kinds of malware.

When victims call for help, they won't admit that they have downloaded some crazy stuff on the internet for free and will blame that they've been hacked directly. But in reality, they gave these hackers a free pass through malware like this.

Yes, and just like the rest of how this malware spreads, it is thru downloading fake or crack softwares. Yes, we all know the dangers of it for crypto enthusiast and even if we uses a MacOS who is not susceptible to this kind of attacks, still though we need to be on guard all the time.

This criminals knows our weaknesses and so they take advantage of it. And as I have said before, if we have a lot of money in one of our online machines being used for crypto, it's better to have a separate PC for our non-crypto activities, it's better safe that sorry.

Separating your important activities through your PC or laptop is a good thing to do for those who want to avoid them and remove the headache. But being informed on how someone can contain and become a victim of it is the best thing.

And with that, I think we are also maturing or learning from the mistakes of others. There could be some of here really practicing the separation of their important documents and wallets and personal info, and on the other one, a laptop or PC that is being used for everything except crypto. Maybe this is one of the best solution or at least mitigating the risk of being infected by malwares.

And another thing, buy the software that you need as well as the games that you'd love to play. Avoid those websites that are offering free cracked versions of software. I'm not an expert but I've learned that in the process being a computer user.

I will admi that I'm one of those who wanted free software and even started to visit torrents years ago. But I stop that way before I involved myself in crypto and just start to buy legitimate software like anti-virus or OS for that matter. Nothing beats that and you will feel safe.

[Churchillvv]

This has proven that nowhere is safe, I keep wondering why people feel macOS is so special for hackers to develop their tools to attack it's users. we are dealing with smart people who knows how everything works and can manipulate it to their desire. anyways offline device could be the only way out of all this attacks and I hope to mac users get to learn this as fast as possible before it gets to them.

[cryptoaddictchie]

This has proven that nowhere is safe, I keep wondering why people feel macOS is so special for hackers to develop their tools to attack it's users. we are dealing with smart people who knows how everything works and can manipulate it to their desire.

I have friends too that got they reason for having an apple product is it safe from harm or malware. Surely this should be the standard given the mac products are expensive but they cant outsmart smart people who do things just to be on the hook of potential scam. Crazy indeed. Good thing OP share this information, can pass up to some of my friends for awareness.

[Taskford]

This has proven that nowhere is safe, I keep wondering why people feel macOS is so special for hackers to develop their tools to attack it's users. we are dealing with smart people who knows how everything works and can manipulate it to their desire. anyways offline device could be the only way out of all this attacks and I hope to mac users get to learn this as fast as possible before it gets to them.

They target MacOS user because they know that it has a huge user base and when they spread this kind of malware there's huge possibilities that they can get a lot of victims. But I guess many people are now aware about this since lots of site already give a warning to people regarding on this malware that possibly can harm people if they are careless to download anything attractive to them on internet.

Offline device is not the only way to avoid this attack. Simple awareness about this thing and always verifying on what links they are downloading can save lots of people. Knowledge is important and being lazy towards knowing this issues increase the chance that we will fall on any kind of malwares or attacks online.

[nelson4lov]

This has proven that nowhere is safe, I keep wondering why people feel macOS is so special for hackers to develop their tools to attack it's users. we are dealing with smart people who knows how everything works and can manipulate it to their desire. anyways offline device could be the only way out of all this attacks and I hope to mac users get to learn this as fast as possible before it gets to them.

I don't care what security that a system has in place, no system in the world is invisible or immune to attacks. But it's worth noting that some systems have much more better security that makes it difficult to penetrate. For instance, Apple doesn't allow users to install applications outside of their appstore which is censored and the available apps there are vetted. That way, you can't easily get your iPhone infected because you can't install apps outside of their constrained app store.

MacOS is secure but you can install binaries from vendors which doesn't necessarily have to be on the MacOS app store. That alone opens up the possibility for a vulnerability.

[PX-Z]

They target MacOS user because they know that it has a huge user base and when they spread this kind of malware there's huge possibilities that they can get a lot of victims. But I guess many people are now aware about this since lots of site already give a warning to people regarding on this malware that possibly can harm people if they are careless to download anything attractive to them on internet.

It's the other way around, MacOS users are pretty small compare to windows users even in mobile OS (ios and android), that's why it's pretty rare that they get infected or a malware is created for them. Even if you believe it or not linux based OS has virus and malwares too but it's pretty small, knowing there are lot of technical people use linux that knows how prevent getting affected so its useless but the chances of getting infected is still there.

[Crypt0Gore]

One of the reasons why a person will become a victim of this malware is by not purchasing games like GTA IV from Steam or any other official platforms as well as the apps that it copies and is being searched for its cracked version. That's the cost of someone looking for a pirated version of it.

So, this malware copies apps and games like GTA IV. And those who like to download free things and pirated/cracked versions are always the target of these kinds of malware.

When victims call for help, they won't admit that they have downloaded some crazy stuff on the internet for free and will blame that they've been hacked directly. But in reality, they gave these hackers a free pass through malware like this.

I play pirated games a lot but I don't care because its free, it will safe me a lot of money instead of buying the game from steam, but guess what? I don't keep crypto on PC, if my PC in infected so be it, but where I get my games from is virus and malware free, the person that pack the game into a torrent is an expert called Fitgirl, her package is always Malware and  Trojan free.

I don't want to have anything crypto related on my PC because it was never safe anyway, some new cracks and backdoors are showing up, and even before people realize some will be a victim, the fast is PC is not the best home for crypto assets, simple.