The malware was discovered by Patrick Wardle, a cybersecurity researcher who specializes in Apple products. Wardle has developed several free and open source security tools for Macs, and came up with the idea to look for malware designed to run natively on M1 systems while rebuilding his tools for native M1 compatibility.
The M1 system-on-chip (SoC), unveiled by Apple in November 2020, is designed for increased performance, as well as better security, with the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant claiming that it includes security protections built deep into its code execution architecture.
