Thunderstrike 2 is a new malware created by a team of researchers to demonstrate that the company's OS X Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), it is not immune to hackers, this being the first malware capable of infecting the firmware of Macs.
According to those who developed it, Thunderstrike 2 it is almost impossible to delete from one Mac, it cannot be removed by software updates OS X, the malware being able to reinstall itself at will even if an antivirus software manages to delete it temporarily.
Thunderstrike 2 it was developed by the security researcher named Trammell Hudson, who also discovered the first Mac exploits called Thunderstrike, and by Xeno Kovah, the owner of the specialized security consulting company LegbaCore.
In the video clip below you can see how Thunderstrike 2 is able to infect a Mac, the malware can completely block operating system updates or almost any attempts to delete it, so a user has very few options to defend themselves .
Unlike the first exploit that requires a physical connection to a Mac to infect, Thunderstrike 2 is able to do the same thing remotely via an email or a website, and the worst part is that it can spread itself to other Macs -s through peripherals connected to them.
The infection of a Mac is done without the user knowing that it is affected and the deletion can only be done by rewriting the firmware of the Mac components, and this is dangerous because it can permanently damage the product, so only an authorized service can do the procedure.
People are unaware that these small cheap devices can actually infect their firmware. You could get a worm started all around the world that's spreading very low and slow. If people don't have awareness that attacks can be happening at this level then they're going to have their guard down and an attack will be able to completely subvert their system.
Although Apple was notified about the danger that Thunderstrike 2 has, the American company did not make enough efforts to protect its users, so now the press is putting enormous pressure on it to secure its Macs, although it is unlikely that he will hurry.
