Remove DarthMiner Mac Miner

This article has been created in order to give you insight on how to quickly remove the DarthMiner Mac Miner from your Mac effectively.

The DarthMiner Mac Miner is a very dangerous threat to all Mac computers as it can install itself silently and lead to data theft. Active infections can be made without any apparent symptoms and depending on the specific hacker instructions different actions can take place. This is the reason why affected users should remove it immediately.

DarthMiner Mac Miner — How Did I Get It

A new dangerous malware threat has been identified as the DarthMiner Mac Miner. Despite its name it is a hybrid threat that contains capabilities of several different types of malware.

At the moment the main distribution tactic relies on the use of infected application installers. The ongoing attack campaign rely on malware Adobe Zii samples which are pirate tools used to activate paid Adobe software. When downloaded and run on a Mac machine the appliactions will execute a shell script that will download another script written in Python. This in turn will download another executable called “sample.app”. This sequence of events will in-turn make detection much more difficult to detect by the operating system.

The current attack campaign shows that the main method is through a malware payload delivery techniques. It is possible that the other method will be used which takes advantage of infected documents. They can be of any of the popular file types: spreadsheets, presentations, databases and text files. As soon as they are run a prompt will appear asking for the built-in scripts to be run. This will trigger the DarthMiner Mac Miner installation.

The other popular methods of delivery include the following:

• Browser Hijackers — They represent malicious plugins made for the most popular web browsers. The strains are uploaded with descriptions and offers that promise new feature additions and performance optimizations. Often fake or hacked user reviews and developer credentials are used to make them look legitimate.
• Co-Infection — Usually the threats can be delivered by other threats such as ransomware and Trojans.
• Malware Sites Usage — Various malicious sites and related content can lead to the DarthMiner Mac Miner infection. This category does not include spoofed sites of vendor pages or download portals, but also available through SPAM ad content: redirects, banners, pop-ups and in-text links.

DarthMiner Mac Miner — Full Description

The DarthMiner Mac Miner not only infects the machines using a multiple tier sequence of script downloads, but the current wave of attacks have been found to contain many malware modules that are run as soon as they are deployed.

One of the first actions that are undertaken is the confirmation if the “Little Snitch” app is installed. This is a popular firewall installed by most Mac users, the reason for this is that if it is installed and active it may block the outgoing connections to the hacker servers. When it is bypassed the infection can continue.

The next action is a Trojan connection to a predefined hacker-controlled server. The first commands that are run are related to the download and execution of the main malware. Its current configuration is set to launch a cryptocurrency miner, a custom variant of the popular XMRIG script. The behavior that is associated with them is to come in contact to a hacker-controlled mining server (called “pool”) which will direct the malware to download and run resources-intensive tasks that will take a heavy toll on all major components: CPU, GPU, memory and hard disk space. And when a completed task is reported the hacker operators will receive income in the form of digital currency that will be directly wired to them.

An additional step is the download and installation of a root certificate along with a surveillance application. This allows the hacker operators to capture Internet traffic thereby monitoring all user Internet activities. As the connection is made on a local level the malicious actors will also have the ability to access encrypted traffic and contents as well.

As the DarthMiner Mac Miner by itself contains a Trojan component it can be used for various other malicious actions:

• Machine Access — Having infected computers means that the malicious actors will be able not only to steal all accessible information, but also spy on the users in real-time and overtake control of the machines.
• Additional Malware Infection — Active infections can enable the malicious operators to install other threats to the victim machines.
• Persistent Installation — The infections can be installed in a way which makes recovery very difficult. They can change the operating system settings, boot options and other places which are used by the users to restore their machines.
• Data Deletion — The DarthMiner Mac Miner can be programmed to delete data such as Backups and Restore Points.
• Data Theft — The constant monitoring of user traffic and the access to user data on the local machine can allow the hackers to steal information that can directly expose the victims. The collected information can also be used for crimes such as identity theft and financial abuse.

At the moment no information is known about the malicious actors and their intent. Future versions of it may also include additional functionality.

Martin Beltov

Martin graduated with a degree in Publishing from Sofia University. As a cyber security enthusiast he enjoys writing about the latest threats and mechanisms of intrusion.

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