Scary piece of malware has infected more than 30,000 Macs

[Yoni Heisler]

• A sophisticated piece of malware called Silver Sparrow has already infected 30,000 Macs across the world. Security researchers still aren't sure what the end-goal of the malware is.
• Silver Sparrow is quite sophisticated and has even infected recently released Macs running Apple's new M1 processor. The malware also includes self-destruct code designed to conceal its existence.
• Security researchers still aren't sure how the malware is being distributed.

One of the longstanding benefits of owning a Mac as opposed to a PC is that you're statistically less likely to encounter malware. While this is partly due to the robust security macOS provides, the Mac platform is inherently safer because the Mac -- on account of its small market share -- is a less desirable platform for hackers to target. After all, if you're a malware creator, it only makes sense to target Windows -- with its 85% share of the market -- than it is to target the Mac.

Still, it's not as if Macs are impervious to targeted attacks. This past summer, for example, a piece of Mac ransomware masquerading as an app installer for Little Snitch was making the rounds on torrent sites. More recently, security researchers from Malwarebytes and Red Canary unearthed a new piece of malware that may have already infected more than 30,000 machines. The malware is dubbed Silver Sparrow and, speaking to its sophistication, is already targeting machines running Apple's brand new M1 chip in addition to existing Intel-based machines.

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Scary piece of malware has infected more than 30,000 Macs originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2021 at 19:51:22 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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