Mac users, now we have ransomware!
StratDragon
Posts: 3,253
Ok, before you think this is another Daz Rant from me let me just say I have my tin-foil hat in reaching distance but I'm not wearing it right now, this is something entirely different from the world of Mac OS X Security, and potentally detonate on ALL INTEL CPU MACS
The short answer
If you did not very recently download Transmission.app for mac (it's a torrent client) you should be fine and dandy, however If you did, read on:
Actual ransom-ware on the Mac, this the first of it's kind for Mac Users (we've had adware bundled with torrents, but this is the first ransom ware) and unfortunately news outlets are not either understanding this issue or misreporting it for sensationalism. Either way as a Mac user or owner that is no help to you. I have found the most intelligent site as to understanding the actual truth is thesafemac.com, which brought me to this link:
https://blog.malwarebytes.org/mac/2016/03/first-mac-ransomware-spotted/
Be aware while this is already patched from Apple and revoked the developer code, but to be clear it was inserted into a torrent client (Who needs encryption? There's no better way to prevent piracy than to infect a torrent app!) so if you have recently downloaded Transmission (a torrent client for Mac) you could have compromised your system. Fortunately removal is very simple:
Delete the Transmission.app application and restart.
also if you are infected DO NOT PAY THE RANSOM!!! You will not get anything other than a charge card in the hands of a ****bag.
Then download Malware bytes for Mac (free and developed by a user on the Apple forums btw) and run it
https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/
it should remove the live infection, however any backup you made of the client it still infected if you use Time Machine.
Also not due to the nature of this attack if you had any Mac Anti-Virus it would not have detected it so it didn't matter. Mac AV continues to be snake oil and detrimental to system stability and has yet to provide any security to macs other than theoretical. If someone ever releases a Mac virus (READ: not malware, not adware, not ransom-ware, which do exist on mac, but by definition; A virus as in it replicates on Mac) in on the web that might change but that has still not happened.
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Comments
Thank you for the heads up. I've never heard of Transmission but I will be wary.
I've been using a Macbook Air since 2011 and an iMac since 2013 and have never installed any AV software. I use uTorrent as a torrent client - I'm assuming Transmission is an alternative?
why I don't mess around with torrents, even with products purposely distributed that way like Unity
transmission was long considered the last mac torrent app that didn't come bundled with some kind of junk from cnet, softpedia, download.com which all routinely bundle their Mac offerings with "hidden treasures" now.
Unfortunately the technology behind torrents was an amazing idea to share data at a much faster rate that started hanging out with the wrong data and staying out all night with "loose" data.
Even so, OS X is still a safer and (for me) better environment than Windows.
Safe enough for you to make some cute bunnies? :D
Ha ha, but not only that. Besides cute bunnies I also work as web designer/manager, web content developer and remote network administration.
Yes..but you're the pre-immenint animal maker around here...and no one has made cute bunnies, despite there being a holiday all about cute bunnies. Just saying :)
I want cute bunnies! I do not have a working computer at the moment though.
Not the only way to get dodgy software; Lunux Mint recently got their site hacked and a specific distro version was corrupted.