Security firm Guards has revealed new malware that can be used by hackers to remotely gain control of an insecure Mac. In a blog post, Guardz explains how a threat agent has offered the tool on a Russian cybercrime forum since April 2023.
The malware is an HVNC utility (Hidden Virtual Network Computing) and is similar to a VNC (Virtual Network Computing), which is a legitimate tool often used to remotely control another computer over a network or the internet. For example, a company with an IT department may use VNC to troubleshoot an employee’s computer, and the employee can see that the computer is being accessed. But in the case of an HVNC, the access is hidden from the target user, so a threat agent would use an HVNC for nefarious purposes.
The HVNC is being sold on a Russian cybercrime forum called Exploit. The threat agent is offering the HVNC for a “lifetime price of $60,000,” and for an additional $20,000, the buyer can get “more malicious capabilities to the arsenal.” Apparently, the HVNC malware can run on the target Mac without user permission and has been tested on macOS from version 10 to 13.2. (The current version, which was released last week, is macOS Ventura 13.5.)
Read more at Macworld.com