The malware has been found in 153 countries with heavy detection reported in the US, the UK, Canada, France and Germany. Silver Sparrow is an activity cluster that includes a binary compiled to run on Apple's new M1 chips but lacks one very important feature: a payload.

"Though we haven't observed Silver Sparrow delivering additional malicious payloads yet, its forward-looking M1 chip compatibility, global reach, relatively high infection rate, and operational maturity suggest Silver Sparrow is a reasonably serious threat," according to researchers from cyber security firm Red Canary.

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

The malware is uniquely positioned to deliver a potentially impactful payload at a moment's notice. Silver Sparrow comes in two versions -- one with a binary in mach-object format compiled for Intel x86_64 processors and the other Mach-O binary for the M1.

Researchers have earlier warned that Apple's transition from Intel to its own silicon M1 chip may make it easy for hackers to introduce malware. "To me, the most notable [thing] is that it was found on almost 30K macOS endpoints... and these are only endpoints the MalwareBytes can see, so the number is likely way higher," said Patrick Wardle, a macOS security expert.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever