"30,000 Macs Infected With New Silver Sparrow Malware"

Recently security researchers have spotted a new malware operation targeting Mac devices that have silently infected almost 30,000 systems. The new malware is named Silver Sparrow.  The researchers found that Silver Sparrow had infected 29,139 macOS endpoints across 153 countries as of February 17, including high volumes of detection in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany.  Despite the high number of infections, details about how the malware was distributed and infected users are still scarce. It's unclear if Silver Sparrow was hidden inside malicious ads, pirated apps, or fake Flash updaters.  The purpose of this malware is also unclear, and researchers don't know what its final goal is. The researchers found that once Silver Sparrow infects a system, the malware waits for new commands from its operators.  Commands never arrived during the time researchers analyzed it. The researchers warn that this malware shouldn't be interpreted as a failed malware strain.  The researchers state that it might be possible that the malware can detect researchers analyzing its behavior and that it is simply avoiding delivering its second-stage payloads to these systems.   The malware also comes with support for infecting macOS systems running on Apple's latest M1 chip architecture.  The researchers stated that Silver Sparrow is a serious threat, uniquely positioned to deliver a potentially impactful payload at a moment's notice.

ZDNet reports: "30,000 Macs Infected With New Silver Sparrow Malware"