DoS Attack can Crash a Mac by Using Malware Distributed Through Email

Cyber criminals are once again targeting customers of Apple, this time by using a malware which can easily crash Macs by creating draft emails repeatedly till the device freezes due to overloading of the system.

News.softpedia.com posted on 4th January, 2017 stating that Malwarebytes, a security
firm , warns that a new series of attacks has already been identified online which is trying to exploit vulnerabilities in Safari and the Mail app to use the whole amount of RAM and crash the device.

The malware seems similar to existing Windows malware which is trying to encourage owners to either call a fake tech support number or to accept a call from one.

In order to install the device successfully, users must first click on a link delivered through email and hence, you should never do this in the first place. Never open links which arrive in your inbox and whose sender is a stranger to you because there is a good chance that it spreads malware.

Malwarebytes tells us that emails having the link are being sent from at least two email accounts and any email received from these should be deleted clearly without reading. The emails are amannn.2917@gmail.com and dean.jones9875@gmail.com.

The security firm claims that the malware is distributed using a number of compromised websites including (limitless) the following: safari-get(.)com, safari-serverhost(.), safari-get(.)net and safari-serverhost(.)net. Surely, many more might be compromised already and therefore, never click on links which you don't believe.

First and primarily, if users running the latest version of macOS (10.12.2), they are already secured. Malwarebytes claimed that Apple has already included a fix in this particular version and in the latest betas but this doesn't necessarily mean that they are totally safe.

There is another way to obstruct attacks by using filters which can help to block emails sent from the abovementioned two addresses (note that this is only capable if the malicious links are sent from these emails). Create a regulation in the Mail app preferences to delete messages automatically if the new messages contain the dean.jones9875@gmail.com and amannn.2917@gmail.com in the "form" field.

Mail should then process all fresh emails on its own and remove them automatically if any mails come from these two emails known for distributing malware.

» SPAMfighter News - 1/10/2017