Widely known Web3 podcast Empire has been exploited to compromise cryptocurrency developers and influencers with the Atomic macOS Stealer malware, also known as AMOS, as part of a new phishing campaign, reports HackRead.
Malicious interview invites purporting to be from Empire podcast hosts and producers have been sent by attackers via social media DMs, with targets then lured to click links to the SteamYard or Huddle platforms for the interview, findings from the Bitso Quetzal Team revealed.
However, such links redirect to a phishing website displaying an error that requires the download and installation of a DMG installer impersonating either application, the completion of which results in AMOS Stealer compromise.
Further analysis showed the DMG installer to be invoking a Base64-obfuscated Bash script before deobfuscating encoded content, allowing Perl-based XOR, and eventually launching the AMOS Stealer.
Such a development comes after the discovery of a spear-phishing scheme against cryptocurrency executives that involved CoinMarketCap journalist impersonation.
