New Data Shows Cybercriminals Increasingly Targeting Apple’s Ecosystem: Kaspersky

New data shows that ill-intentioned hackers are increasingly targeting Apple’s ecosystem.

While macOS is often touted as “safer” on the cybersecurity front compared to Windows-based systems, cybercriminals are in fact increasingly targeting Apple’s ecosystem, reads a new report from Kaspersky released yesterday.

According to data outlined in the report, the number of attacks on macOS users through malicious and potentially unwanted programs has been increasing annually since 2012, and in 2018 it exceeded 4 million attacks. The pace is staying steady so far this year; during the first half of 2019, the firm registered 1.8 million malware attacks on Macs.

One of the most frequent fraud schemes outlined in the report are those designed to resemble the iCloud interface that steal credentials from victims’ Apple ID accounts. Links to these attacks usually come from spam emails which pose as messages from technical support, often threatening to block users’ accounts should they not click the link.

Another widespread scam is the use of scaremongering pages that attempt to convince the user that their computer is under serious security threat, luring them to click links to “fix” their computer.

“While technically these fraud schemes are nothing new, we believe they pose an even greater danger to Apple users than similar schemes against users of other platforms — such as Windows or Android,” says Tatyana Sidorina, security researcher at Kaspersky. “That is because the ecosystem around Macs and other Apple devices is generally considered a far safer environment. Therefore users might be less cautious when they encounter fake websites.”

“Meanwhile the successful theft of iCloud account credentials could lead to serious consequences — an iPhone or iPad could be remotely blocked or wiped by a malicious user, for example,” Sidorina explains. “We urge users of Apple devices to pay more attention to any emails they receive claiming to be from technical support, which request your details or ask you to visit a link.”

The countries with the largest share of unique macOS users who experienced phishing attacks in the first half of the year were Brazil (30.87 percent), India (22.08 percent), and France (22.02 percent).