Hackers are abusing Google ads and Claude.ai chats to spread Mac malware

Hackers are abusing Google ads and Claude.ai chats to spread Mac malware

By Ax Sharma
Publication Date: 2026-05-10 17:52:00

Attackers are abusing Google Ads and legitimate Claude.ai shared chats as part of an active malvertising campaign.

Users searching for “Claude Mac Download” may encounter sponsored search results with this listing Claude.ai as a target website, but lead to instructions that install malware on your Mac.

Google sponsored search result for “Claude Download Mac”
Google sponsored search result for “Claude Download Mac”
(Bleeping Computer)

Shared Claude chats have been used as a weapon against macOS users

The campaign was discovered by Berk Albayrak, a security engineer at Trendyol Group, who shared his findings on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn post by researcher Berk A
Researcher warns of ongoing malvertising campaign

Albayrak identified a chat shared by Claude.ai posing as an official “Claude Code on Mac” installation guide and attributed to “Apple Support.”

The chat walks users through opening Terminal and pasting a command that will silently download and run malware on their Mac.

While trying to verify Albayrak’s results, BleepingComputer came across one second shared Claude chat…