Mysterious malware infects over 30,000 Macs

Who says there is no malware on Mac? This malware called Silver Sparrow proves the opposite. This malware was spotted by computer security researchers at Red Canary. Among its main singularities, Silver Sparrow infects both Macs with an Intel processor and those with recent Apple M1 Soc. This particularity makes it the second malware in the world to be able to target Apple’s latest ARM chips.

So far, the malware has infected no less than 30,000 Macs, spread across 153 countries. The question now is: what is its use? Imagine that for the moment, we do not know. Quite unlikely, the malware is in standby and remains totally inactive. No spam ads, it’s not ransomware, no remote malicious code execution… Silver Sparrow is sleeping, and researchers don’t know when or how it will wake up.

Despite everything, experts noted a worrying fact: every hour, infected Macs check a control server to see if there are new commands the malware can run. In other words, it is awaiting instructions. Even stranger fact, Silver Sparrow embeds a self-destruct function. This capability is generally reserved for high security operations, and researchers are indeed questioning its presence.

Also read: MacBook M1 – are your apps compatible?

A threat not to be taken lightly

” While we have yet to observe Silver Sparrow delivering additional malicious payloads, its compatibility with M1 chips, global reach, relatively high infection rate, and operational maturity suggest that Silver Sparrow is a reasonably serious threat. uniquely positioned to deliver a potentially impactful payload at all times ”, say Red Canary researchers.

Note that once installed on a Mac, the malware searches for the URL from which it was downloaded. This technique allows operators to identify the most efficient distribution channels. At this time, researchers do not know how Silver Sparrow is distributed or how it is installed. After the discovery of Red Canary, Apple revoked the malware’s developer certificate to prevent it from being installed on more devices. The apple brand assures that there is no proof that the malware delivered malicious payloads, but if viruses of this type start to proliferate, it would be better to equip yourself accordingly. You know that we do not recommend free antiviruses. Even if protection of this type is better than no protection at all, for “recent” malware it is better to bundle up with paid products like Norton 360 Deluxe or BitDefender Total Security. These two solutions allow you to protect your PC, your Mac and your iOS or Android smartphone (up to 5 devices). The two softwares are currently at half price at less than 40 €.

Source: ArsTechnica