A former hacker for the National Security Agency has demonstrated an effective approach for malware creators to attack macOS, by repurposing code developed by state-sponsored hackers.
As with other software development projects, creating malware typically requires a lot of effort to create software that takes advantage of exploits, so shortcuts to a completed piece of software is always sought after by those producing them. As explained by Jamf security researcher Patrick Wardle in a talk at the RSA Security conference, there are shortcuts available in malware development.
In essence, Wardle proposed taking advantage of exploits, spyware, and other code that has already been developed by major groups working on behalf of other countries, reports Ars Technica. The code developed by the teams is usually better and not as resource-intensive as other home-cooked efforts, and are probably more robust as well.
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