Apple says it has already beaten new M1 Mac malware
Silver Sparrow had infected around 30,000 macOS devices
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Applehas moved to squash the threat of another new malware strain threatening its own-brandM1 Macsilicon devices.
The malware, dubbed “Silver Sparrow” by researchers at security firm Red Canary, was thought to have already infected around 30,000 Apple M1 Macs, as well as targeting some earlierIntel-powered Macs too.
However Apple says it has now stepped in, tellingTechRadar Proit revoked certificates for developer accounts used by the malware’s creator to help deliver the malware packages onto victim devices - effectively stopping any new devices from being infected.
Apple attack
The company told AppleInsider that it had acted to reduce any further spread of the malware by revoking these certificates, and that it looks to issue regular software updates to stop its devices being infected.
Silver Sparrow was the second identifiedM1 Mac malwarein a matter of weeks, after an earlier threat was also uncovered recently - although this was found to be fairly standard adware.
Red Canary had estimated that Silver Sparrow infected about 30,000 macOS computers in over 150 countries. It was flagged as particularlt novel for the way it usedJavaScriptfor execution—something the company said it hadn’t previously encountered in other macOS malware
The malware calls a command and control server every hour from the infected machine to check for further instructions. Till now the researchers haven’t noticed the malware downloading any malicious payloads, which adds to the mystery of the malware’s true intent.
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Via:AppleInsider
With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’sTechRadar Pro’sexpert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.
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