Once malware has successfully gained access to a system, its next goal is usually to persist. Persistence is the means by which malware installs itself on a system to ensure it will automatically re-execute upon startup, user login, or some other deterministic event. The vast majority of Mac malware attempts to gain persistence; otherwise, a system reboot may act as its death knell.
Of course, not all malware persists. One notable kind of malware that generally doesn’t persist is ransomware, a type of malicious code that encrypts user files and then demands a ransom in order to restore the files. Once the malware has encrypted ...
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