• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?

2

eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats

3

Current price of oil as of July 28, 2026

1

Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?

2

eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats

3

Current price of oil as of July 28, 2026
TechChanging Face of Security

Do Not Download This Scam Mac App! It’s Nasty Malware

Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 6, 2016, 4:11 PM ET
Snake Venom Production At Latoxan SAS Laboratory
An employee at the Latoxan SAS laboratory shows the fangs on an Easter diamondback rattlesnake before extracting the snake's venom at the company's unit in Valence, France, on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012. The company specializes in the production of high quality venoms and toxins for research and leading pharmaceutical companies. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBalint Porneczi—Bloomberg via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Never judge an app by its cover.

A malicious app has been masquerading as a benign online document converter, researchers at the cybersecurity firm Bitdefender warned Wednesday. The application claims to convert certain file types into Microsoft (MSFT) Word versions, simply and freely.

In fact, the app sabotages people’s computers, the researchers said. Called “EasyDoc Converter,” the fake application is designed to sucker people into installing it, giving attackers full anonymous access to infected Apple (AAPL) machines.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

“It’s not your typical type of malware,” Alexandra Gheorghe, security specialist at Bitdefender, told Fortune. “You install it, but you as an individual have no idea that it’s running in the background and it extracts information regarding everything you do on your system.”

“It’s very silent,” she added.

The Mac malware creates what’s known as a backdoor on Apple operating systems OS X 10.6 (aka Snow Leopard) or later. This enables attackers to take full control of a computer, including its webcam, files, email service, and execute code commands, the researchers said in a blog post.

The malware also helps establish a connection over the Tor network, a computer network that lets the hackers remain anonymous.

The good news is that the malware, dubbed “Backdoor.MAC.Eleanor” by the researchers, is not available in Apple’s (AAPL) official App Store. Instead, the app has been advertised for download on third-party sites; for instance, a copy was available on the site MacUpdate until it was removed on Tuesday.

Apple’s default “Gatekeeper” security feature generates a pop up alert when people try to download and install the fake app. But users could still choose to ignore the warning.

Gheorghe said the Bitdefender team has identified a suspect who might behind the scam—a person who has openly expressed interest on social media about creating Mac backdoors—but she declined to reveal any further information, saying that “we would like to verify further and investigate further if our suspicions are right.”

Bitdefender said it could not determine how many people’s computers are infected with the malware.

For more on Mac malware, watch:

Attackers have historically targeted Apple devices with malware less frequently than they have targeted other PC-makers, partly due to the latter’s traditionally larger market share. Earlier this year, another piece of Mac malware came to light called KeRanger ransomware, which encrypted the contents of Apple computers and held the data for ransom.

As a general practice, computer security experts recommend that people download software only from trusted sources over trusted network connections. For those who may have already been infected, the cybersecurity software firm Malwarebytes has incorporated a removal tool into its free anti-malware software.

Other proactive security tools that protect against malware include BlockBlock, an anti-malware app that flags possible security breaches in PCs, as well as Little Snitch, a tool that tells you who your computer is talking to.

Of course, it’s easiest just to avoid downloading fishy apps altogether.

About the Author
Robert Hackett
By Robert Hackett
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

sally
InnovationRobots
An Upstate New York school district bought a $60K robot teacher that looks uncomfortably like a sex doll
By Philip Marcelo and The Associated PressJuly 29, 2026
9 minutes ago
An iPhone showing a display of an events contract on Polymarket.
Startups & VentureCryptocurrency
Exclusive: Polymarket launches institute to fund independent academic research on prediction markets
By Camila Grigera NaónJuly 29, 2026
39 minutes ago
Nnamdi Iregbulem is a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
CommentaryVenture Capital
Button-mashing never worked in StarCraft. Tokenmaxxing won’t work in AI
By Nnamdi IregbulemJuly 29, 2026
54 minutes ago
Computer language, Token is the basic unit of AI large models
AICFO Daily
CFOs are hitting a ‘cost wall’ on AI
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 29, 2026
1 hour ago
Daniel Nadler wears a black shirt, smiles, and speaks into an earpiece microphone
AITerm Sheet
A new medical AI study found the same flaw in OpenEvidence, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Doximity
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 29, 2026
1 hour ago
Sam Altman walking
AIOpenAI
The runaway OpenAI models that hacked Hugging Face also breached a customer at a second tech company during a week-long spree
By Beatrice NolanJuly 29, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
C-Suite
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
2 days ago
eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats
Law
eBay will pay nearly $50 million after employees reportedly sent a Massachusetts couple a bloody pig mask, cockroaches and death threats
By The Associated Press and Leah WillinghamJuly 28, 2026
16 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 28, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 28, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 28, 2026
1 day ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
4 days ago
The brutal math behind Gen Z's lonely weekends: $15 drinks are driving a generational 'spending hangover'
Economy
The brutal math behind Gen Z's lonely weekends: $15 drinks are driving a generational 'spending hangover'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 28, 2026
23 hours ago
No. 1 on the Fortune Global 500: Amazon's Jeff Bezos on how his garage startup became the largest company in the world by revenue
Magazine
No. 1 on the Fortune Global 500: Amazon's Jeff Bezos on how his garage startup became the largest company in the world by revenue
By Kristin StollerJuly 28, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.