NOMINATION HIGHLIGHTS

Kseniia Yamburh is a Malware Research Engineer at Moonlock by MacPaw, a Mac protection and antivirus app. She specializes in macOS threats, with a primary focus on infostealers, malware delivery chains, and real-world attacker ecosystems. Kseniia’s work focuses on analyzing emerging macOS malware families, uncovering active distribution campaigns, and understanding how malware-as-a-service models target macOS users.

Kseniia has contributed to numerous internal and external research initiatives focused on the evolution of macOS infostealers, analysis of malware delivery chains, including cracked applications, SEO poisoning, and malvertising, and the real-world impact of these threats on macOS users, such as what data is stolen and which services and crypto wallets are targeted.

Kseniia’s primary area of expertise is macOS infostealers, where she is most frequently involved in advanced analysis and attribution. This includes examining new or poorly detected macOS stealer families such as Odyssey, AMOS, and MacSync, investigating campaign infrastructure, and assessing which data is most valuable to threat actors and how these threats affect end users.

As an integral part of Moonlock Lab, MacPaw’s dedicated team of cybersecurity experts behind Moonlock, Kseniia plays a key role in strengthening protection against existing and emerging macOS cyber threats. Her investigations significantly contribute to Moonlock’s malware database, which underpins the product’s advanced detection capabilities. Together with Moonlock Lab, Kseniia discovered a new version of the Atomic macOS infostealer (AMOS), bringing critical visibility to a major macOS threat.

Kseniia’s impact extends well beyond her work at Moonlock. She is an active and respected member of the global security community, regularly sharing research insights on her X account (https://x.com/osint_barbie) and collaborating closely with other security researchers to uncover new malware samples and analyze malware distribution campaigns. Together with a well-known Windows security researcher @g0njxa, Kseniia conducted interviews with threat actors to get firsthand insight into how macOS stealers operate and analyzed how traffic distribution teams adapt their campaigns for macOS. Their findings have been shared with the broader security community to support collective defense efforts.

In addition, Kseniia actively collaborates through information sharing with researchers from Apple, Jamf, Huntress, and other leading companies and independent experts.

Kseniia spoke at major global cybersecurity and technology events, including Virus Bulletin, OBTS (Objective-See), RSAC (webcast), JNUC, and others. Kseniia is a rising and influential voice in cybersecurity who helps shape a safer digital future for Mac users worldwide.