Apple says it has taken steps to prevent the spread of the Mac malware known as Silver Sparrow. The malware was notable for running natively on the M1 chip.
Apple says it has revoked the security certificates of the developer accounts used to sign the packages, which will prevent it from being installed on any other Macs …
As we reported over the weekend, this malware proved to be a perplexity for security researchers for a number of reasons. Silver Sparrow forces infected Macs to check a control server once an hour and includes a self-destruct mechanism, but researchers have yet to see its malicious intent.
Apple would have said MacRumors which is taking several measures to prevent the spread of Silver Sparrow malware. The company has revoked the certificates for the developer accounts used to sign the packages, preventing attackers from infecting any additional Mac users.
Apple also reiterated that Silver Sparrow has not yet delivered a malicious payload and that all software downloaded outside the Mac App Store offers “industry-leading” protection for users. For example, Apple requires that all software be notarized, downloaded from the App Store or elsewhere.
An interesting detail about Silver Sparrow is that it runs natively on Apple’s M1 chip. This does not mean that M1 Macs are specifically targeted, but the malware can equally affect M1 Macs and Intel Macs. We expect that most macOS malware in the future will be optimized for the Apple Silicon, as Apple continues to move away from Intel.
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