Mac has always been seen as the safer alternative to a Windows PC. In maintaining such image, the fact that there are less viruses for macOS has definitely helped. Furthermore, Mac has been known to be more sustainable to cyber-attacks. Lately, though, we are seeing more and more abuses on this OS, the latest being Xagent.
As is the case with the rest, the OS Xagent can open up a channel through which it can collect passwords, screenshots and even backups of your iOS. According to the security experts over at Bitdefender, this particular sample of malicious software originates from the Russian hacker group APT28; the same group that is being held responsible for hacking the Democratic party’s servers and, therefore, influencing the US elections.
Xagent may come with numerous modules such as, KeyLogger, RemoteShell or HttpChanel, but its biggest threat is stealing iOS backup data.
The somewhat bright side of things would be that this type of software is used against high-level targets/ organizations that are of greater interest to the hackers and, when it comes to Xagent, common users are usually bypassed. It also helps that the malicious software is not widely spread on the Internet.
