Security News > 2021 > March > Mac Malware 'XCSSET' Adapted for Devices With M1 Chips
An increasing number of Mac malware developers have started creating variants that are specifically designed to run on devices powered by Apple's M1 chip.
Apple unveiled its M1 system-on-chip in November 2020 and the first malware created specifically for systems with the arm64 CPU architecture used by the M1 was apparently created in December.
A few days after the existence of this Pirrit variant came to light, managed detection and response firm Red Canary reported identifying a mysterious piece of Mac malware that had infected tens of thousands of devices around the world.
Kaspersky reported on Friday that it too has spotted a piece of malware with a variant compiled for devices with M1 chips, specifically a variant of the malware known as XCSSET. XCSSET is a mysterious piece of malware first detailed by Trend Micro and Mac security company Intego in August 2020.
"With the new M1 chip, Apple has certainly pushed its performance and energy saving limits on Mac computers, but malware developers kept an eye on those innovations and quickly adapted their executables to Apple Silicon by porting the code to the ARM64 architecture," Kaspersky researchers wrote in a blog post.
They added, "We have observed various attempts to port executables not just among typical adware such as Pirrit or Bnodlero samples, but also among malicious packages, such as the Silver Sparrow threat and XCSSET downloadable malicious modules. This certainly will give a kickstart to other malware adversaries to begin adapting their code for running on Apple M1 chips."