30,000 Macs get mystery infection.

[nukecad 7]

Quote

A new macOS malware known as Silver Sparrow has silently infected almost 30,000 Mac devices with malware whose purpose is a mystery.
....
According to Malwarebytes, this malware has infected 29,139 Mac devices across 153 countries, with high volumes in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-silver-sparrow-malware-infects-30-000-macs-for-unknown-purpose/

[Andavari 1]

It's interesting that so many still think MacOS is immune to malware.

[nukecad 7]

It is strange why they still think that, probably Apple's propaganda (marketing) department.

It just makes them more vulnerable to widespread infections like this one, maybe this will wake them up?
Although no doubt Apple will say it's a one-off anomaly.

[Dave CCleaner 1]

9 hours ago, Andavari said:

It's interesting that so many still think MacOS is immune to malware.

I was clearing viruses off Macs with Virex back in the 90s, when the primary infection vector was shareware floppies.  Macs have never had the market share to make them an attractive target for most for-profit malware authors, but since generally speaking Mac owners have more money than PC owners they do present a lucrative niche for phishing, identity theft and keyloggers.

1 hour ago, nukecad said:

maybe this will wake them up?

Nothing I have seen in the past 15 years would suggest that it will.

[nukecad 7]

TBH as this virus doesn't seem to do anything (yet) you have to wonder if this was maybe the whole point; to show thousands of Mac users how easily they could get infected?

If thousands of Mac users suddenly go out and buy AV's for their Macs that's a lot of profit for someone (with Apple taking a cut).