Apple users targeted in first known Mac ransomware campaign

Reuters ^ | Sun Mar 6, 2016 | JIM FINKLE

[Mad Dawgg]

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) customers were targeted by hackers over the weekend in the first campaign against Macintosh computers using a pernicious type of software known as ransomware, researchers with Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW.N) told Reuters on Sunday.

Ransomware, one of the fastest-growing types of cyber threats, encrypts data on infected machines, then typically asks users to pay ransoms in hard-to-trace digital currencies to get an electronic key so they can retrieve their data.

Security experts estimate that ransoms total hundreds of millions of dollars a year from such cyber criminals, who typically target users of Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Windows operating system.

Palo Alto Threat Intelligence Director Ryan Olson said the "KeRanger" malware, which appeared on Friday, was the first functioning ransomware attacking Apple's Mac computers.

"This is the first one in the wild that is definitely functional, encrypts your files and seeks a ransom," Olson said in a telephone interview.

[ReignOfError]

The infected app was a signed app from a known developer, which gets a lower level of scrutiny than a random anonymous app (but higher than one from the Ap Store).

It was a bittorent client called Transmission, which I have on both of my Macs. Fortunately, I was at version 2.84 until I heard about the malware and upgraded to 2.92 this morning (2.90 was the infected version).

Bittorrent is a distribution method; there’s nothing wrong with it in itself. Because it’s decentralized, no one is in control, and it’s definitely a “buyer beware” situation. But it’s also how most Linux distros get distributed.