A malware originating from China has now been contained after the FBI gained a court order to have the harmful code deleted from thousands of Windows PCs.
The agency has successfully put an end to the reign of the PlugX malware in the U.S., which has affected over 2.5 million devices globally by infiltrating infected USB drives, PCMag noted.
Working with the FBI, the Justice Department has confirmed that it has been granted court sanction to remove the malware from nearly 4,260 computers and networks in the U.S. as of Tuesday. With the resolution announced, the FBI is set to notify owners of infected machines via their internet service providers.
This is just one instance of federal departments getting control of a serious cybersecurity risk. However, its resolution notes the importance of ongoing cybersecurity research. The Justice Department detailed that the actors behind the attack are a private group of Chinese state-sponsored hackers called “Mustang Panda” that developed a unique version of PlugX malware for the ongoing mission.
PlugX first surfaced in 2008 when it was used as a backdoor vulnerability for bad actors to secretly control Windows machines. By 2020, the malware had been updated to allow it to infiltrate USB drives as well as connected PCs. This is described as a “wormable” malware that can transfer between computers via infected peripherals.
French cybersecurity vendor Sekoia observed that Mustang Panda eventually lacked the resources to support the number of machines it had infected with the PlugX malware and ultimately abandoned the project.
Similarly, antivirus provider Sophos observed several PlugX infections originating from a single IP address source. In September 2023, collaborating with Sekoia, the cybersecurity vendor paid just $7 to gain access to the IP address and the infected machines. Further research uncovered a self-delete command within the PlugX code.
In July 2024, law enforcement in France allowed the self-deleting mechanism to be used to remedy the infected machines. Since then, 22 other countries have also followed suit.
While it is not clear how the U.S. entities plan to remove the malware from domestic PCs, the FBI testified in an affidavit that it has tested this self-delete command, confirming that it only removes the malware and does not affect any other device functions or transfer any other unwarranted code.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.