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GoSearch22

Posted: February 18, 2021

Apple recently rolled out their new series of Macintosh computers equipped with the brand-new, ARM-based chip called Apple M1. Apart from the greatly enhanced performance, there are plenty of other benefits of using a relatively new architecture – for example, classic Mac malware families would be unable to run on the new Apple M1 architecture. Unfortunately, the relative safety of the Apple M1 has already been breached by a relatively harmless, but annoying threat – the GoSearch22 adware. This adware belongs to the 'Pirrit' family of Mac malware, and it seems to have received an update recently, which makes it compatible with Apple's newest ARM-based architecture.

The first samples of the GoSearch22 Adware date back to December 2020, but the software received an update recently, which makes it compatible with computers running on the Apple M1 chip. But what does GoSearch22 do exactly? It is installed as a Safari Web browser extension, and users might be oblivious that it is doing anything shady in the background. While GoSearch22 is active, it will collect information about the user's browsing habits silently, and then use it to push marketing content to active Web browser windows. It is not uncommon for GoSearch22's advertisements to take users to shady Web pages, potentially associated with tactics or malware.

It is only a matter of time for other notorious Mac adware families to upgrade their payloads so that they are compatible with the Apple M1 chip. Mac users should not underestimate the importance of proper security measures, and they should protect their computers with the use of an up-to-date security software suite.

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