'); //]]>//--> By John P. Mello Jr. Feb 23, 2021 4:00 AM PT Nearly 30,000 Macs in 153 countries have been infected with a new malware strain that security researchers are calling Silver Sparrow. Discovered by researchers at Red Canary, the malware has been sitting on it hosts waiting for a payload that never arrived. "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," Red Canary Intelligence Analyst Tony Lambert wrote in a company blog Thursday.