| Bilaal Masum / Staff reporter A computer virus called the “Silver Sparrow virus” has been detected on just under 30,000 MacBook computers as of February 27, with many infections being reported in Canada, the US, the UK, France, and Germany according to the article “Mac computer users warned Silver Sparrow virus ticking time bomb, update immediately” by Jack Gramenz. Investigators have discovered two different versions of the virus thus far. One affects Mac computers run by the new M1 chips that Apple has recently started using in some models while the other affects older Intel Macs. Curiously the virus does not seem to be doing anything thus far. On M1 Macs the message “You did it!” is delivered, and on Intel Macs the message “Hello world!” is delivered. However just because these are the only known effects of the virus, this doesn’t mean victims have nothing to worry about. Experts say that the messages “could indicate the threat is under development in a proof-of-concept stage or that the adversary [the virus] just needed an application bundle to make the package look legitimate.” Red Canary, the security operations provider company which first discovered the virus last week says that the virus could prove to be a very potent problem. “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, uniquely positioned to deliver a potentially impactful payload at a moment’s notice,” says Tony Lambert: Red Canary intelligence analyst. Computer Viruses are not something to be taken lightly at all. The most damaging computer virus in history is called the Mydoom virus and has caused a roughly estimated $38,000,000,000 of damage since it was first discovered in 2004, and it also holds the record of being the fastest spreading computer virus of all time. The Mydoom virus is still present today, but it is much, much less prominent than it was in the early 2000s. Mydoom presented such a huge threat at the time that both Microsoft and SCO group individually offered rewards of $250,000 USD for information leading to the arrest of the creator of Mydoom. The FBI and Secret Service also carried out investigations into the virus. The Mydoom virus is thought to have originated from Russia, and also contained a message similar to the Silver Sparrow virus, which read “andy; I’m just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry,” which lead many people to believe this “Andy” was the creator of the virus and had been paid to create the virus. Nobody knows to this day exactly why the virus was created in the first place, although law enforcement agents who investigated the virus attributed it to online crime gangs. Similarly, Red Canary does not yet know what the Silver Sparrow virus was created to do and also doesn’t know how exactly it’s being distributed, but they suspect “malicious search engine results tricked users into downloading the installer.” Sources: Mac computer users warned Silver Sparrow virus ticking time bomb, update immediately Wikipedia Mydoom page The Virus Encyclopedia Mydoom page Featured Image |
| Bilaal Masum / Staff Reporter A computer virus called the “Silver Sparrow virus” has been detected on just under 30,000 MacBook computers as of February 27, with many infections being reported in Canada, the US, the UK, France, and Germany according to the article “Mac computer users warned Silver Sparrow virus ticking time bomb, update immediately” by Jack Gramenz. Investigators have discovered two different versions of the virus thus far. One affects Mac computers run by the new M1 chips that Apple has recently started using in some models while the other affects older Intel Macs. Curiously the virus does not seem to be doing anything thus far. On M1 Macs the message “You did it!” is delivered, and on Intel Macs the message “Hello world!” is delivered. However just because these are the only known effects of the virus, this doesn’t mean victims have nothing to worry about. Experts say that the messages “could indicate the threat is under development in a proof-of-concept stage or that the adversary [the virus] just needed an application bundle to make the package look legitimate.” Red Canary, the security operations provider company which first discovered the virus last week says that the virus could prove to be a very potent problem. “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, uniquely positioned to deliver a potentially impactful payload at a moment’s notice,” says Tony Lambert: Red Canary intelligence analyst. Computer Viruses are not something to be taken lightly at all. The most damaging computer virus in history is called the Mydoom virus and has caused a roughly estimated $38,000,000,000 of damage since it was first discovered in 2004, and it also holds the record of being the fastest spreading computer virus of all time. The Mydoom virus is still present today, but it is much, much less prominent than it was in the early 2000s. Mydoom presented such a huge threat at the time that both Microsoft and SCO group individually offered rewards of $250,000 USD for information leading to the arrest of the creator of Mydoom. The FBI and Secret Service also carried out investigations into the virus. The Mydoom virus is thought to have originated from Russia, and also contained a message similar to the Silver Sparrow virus, which read “andy; I’m just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry,” which lead many people to believe this “Andy” was the creator of the virus and had been paid to create the virus. Nobody knows to this day exactly why the virus was created in the first place, although law enforcement agents who investigated the virus attributed it to online crime gangs. Similarly, Red Canary does not yet know what the Silver Sparrow virus was created to do and also doesn’t know how exactly it’s being distributed, but they suspect “malicious search engine results tricked users into downloading the installer.” Sources: Mac computer users warned Silver Sparrow virus ticking time bomb, update immediately Wikipedia Mydoom page The Virus Encyclopedia Mydoom page Featured Image |