CONFERENCE Cyber AI & Automation Summit - NOW LIVE
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Malware & Threats

Source Code of $3,000-a-Month macOS Malware ‘Banshee Stealer’ Leaked

The Banshee Stealer macOS malware operation, which emerged earlier this year, was reportedly shut down following a source code leak. 

macOS Malware

The cybercriminals behind Banshee Stealer have reportedly shut down their operation after someone leaked the macOS malware’s source code.

Threat intelligence and research project Vx-Underground reported this week that the Banshee Stealer source code was leaked online

The project said the malware operation has been shut down as a result of the leak. It’s unclear who leaked the code and why. 

Vx-Underground has made the Banshee Stealer source code available on its GitHub account. 

Banshee Stealer made many headlines in August, after its developers started advertising it on cybercrime forums for a monthly subscription of $3,000. 

Believed to have been developed by Russian threat actors, the malware is designed to collect a wide range of data from infected macOS devices, including the user’s OS password, system information, passwords from the keychain, web browser data, and cryptocurrency wallets. 

The targeted cryptocurrency wallets include Exodus, Electrum, Coinomi, Guarda, Wasabi Wallet, Atomic and Ledger.

Banshee Stealer can target data from several browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Yandex, Opera, OperaGX, and Safari. It can steal cookies, logins, browsing history, and data from approximately 100 browser plugins.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Banshee Stealer checks the compromised system to ensure that it’s not stealing data from a Russian-speaking user. 

It’s unclear how many systems have actually been infected with Banshee Stealer and what methods were used by the attackers to deliver the malware, considering that deploying macOS malware is typically more difficult compared to Windows malware. 

Elastic Security Labs, which published its analysis of Banshee Stealer in August, noted at the time that the malware lacked sophisticated obfuscation and the presence of debugging information made it easier to analyze. 

However, the company warned that it was still a significant threat that should not be ignored by the cybersecurity community. 

Related: Nokia Says Impact of Recent Source Code Leak Is Very Limited

Related: New York Times Responds to Source Code Leak

Related: BlackLotus UEFI Bootkit Source Code Leaked on GitHub

Related: BreachForums Shut Down in Apparent Law Enforcement Operation

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Don’t miss this Live Attack demonstration to learn how hackers operate and gain the knowledge to strengthen your defenses.

Register

Join us as we share best practices for uncovering risks and determining next steps when vetting external resources, implementing solutions, and procuring post-installation support.

Register

People on the Move

Video platform Vimeo has appointed Ryan Weeks as Chief Information Security Officer.

LPL Financial has welcomed Renana Friedlich as Chief Information Security Officer.

SSH Communications Security has appointed Pauli Haikonen as the company’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

More People On The Move

Expert Insights

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest cybersecurity news, threats, and expert insights. Unsubscribe at any time.