Security News > 2021 > February > Mysterious malware infects 30,000 Mac computers

A piece of malware that has infected almost 30,000 Mac computers has triggered questions over its intent and ultimate payload. SEE: Security Awareness and Training policy.

Based on data from Malwarebytes, the malware dubbed Silver Sparrow by researchers at Red Canary, has so far landed on 29,139 macOS machines across 153 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, France and Germany.

Questions have arisen because the malware hasn't actually done anything malicious yet, meaning there's been no observed payload delivery and no conclusions as to its purpose.

What is known is that Silver Sparrow is a strain of malware designed for Macs powered by the new Apple M1 chip, which the company introduced late last year as a move away from Intel architecture.

With the missing payload piece and other questions, the malware has led to concerns among Red Canary researchers.

"First, we don't commonly see malware using JavaScript inside a PKG file to perform actions like Silver Sparrow does. Second, one version of Silver Sparrow contained a placeholder executable compiled to support M1 architecture."

News URL

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/mysterious-malware-infects-30000-mac-computers/#ftag=RSS56d97e7