{"id":870,"date":"2016-03-08T11:53:52","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T11:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/?p=870"},"modified":"2024-11-07T14:55:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T09:25:52","slug":"apple-computers-hit-by-a-ransomware-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/comodo-news\/apple-computers-hit-by-a-ransomware-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Computers Hit by a Ransomware for the First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Apple no longer holds the trophy of being more immune to virus problems.<\/p>\n<p>In a first, many Apple users recently reported their Mac computers being infected with a kind of ransomware that encrypts files in their computer and demands a \u201cransom\u201d in exchange of decryption. The ransomware, identified as \u201cKeRanger,\u201d allegedly demands 1 bitcoin ($400) from the victims to free their documents from encryption.<\/p>\n<p>The problem was first discovered on 4th March by researchers in Palo Alto Networks, who claimed that the <a href=\"https:\/\/enterprise.comodo.com\/ransomware-attacks.php\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Ransomware\" rel=\"noopener\">ransomware<\/a> made its way into the users&#8217; system through Transmission, a free (and popular) data transferring BitTorrent client software.<\/p>\n<p>Although the scale of infection is yet to be confirmed, Palo Alto Networks claimed that it is the first known case of Apple computers being blatantly affected by a virus. \u201c&#8230;We believe KeRanger is the first fully functional ransomware seen on the OS X platform,\u201d writes a company blog.<\/p>\n<p>The blog further notes, \u201cTransmission is an open source project. It\u2019s possible that Transmission\u2019s official website was compromised and the files were replaced by re-compiled malicious versions, but we can\u2019t confirm how this infection occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Ryan Olsen, <a href=\"https:\/\/valkyrie.comodo.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Threat Intelligence<\/a> Director at Palo Alto Networks, when Mac owners inadvertently download the infected Transmission software to their computers, the ransomware stayed dormant for the first three days and slowly began locking images, videos, and documents in the system.<\/p>\n<p>After the news about the ransomware outbreak in Mac computers, Transmission has since then posted an alert message in its website urging Apple users to take precautionary actions. \u201cEveryone running 2.90 on OS X should immediately upgrade to and run 2.92, as they may have downloaded a malware-infected file. This new version will make sure that the \u201cOSX.KeRanger.A\u201d ransomware is correctly removed from your computer,\u201d reads the message posted in the website&#8217;s homepage.<\/p>\n<p>The message also asks users of Transmission 2.91 to immediately upgrade to and run 2.92. \u201cEven though 2.91 was never infected, it did not automatically remove the malware-infected file,\u201d explains the website.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Apple has revoked the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.comodo.com\/resources\/small-business\/digital-certificates-intro.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">digital certificate<\/a> that allowed the ransomware incident into its computers in order to mitigate the further spread of the malware.<\/p>\n<p>Until now, ransomware were known to target Windows computers at large and inflict a damage worth millions of dollars every year. The wrath of KeRanger on Mac computers, however, poses a new challenge for the information security industry as well as Mac owners, a majority of who believe that they didn&#8217;t need <a href=\"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/computer-safety\/mac-malware-via-bittorrent-client-transmission\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">antivirus for Mac<\/a> to protect their computers because Apple devices are safe against virus.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/download\/thank-you.php?prod=cloud-antivirus&#038;track=16678&#038;af=16678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" onclick=\"ga('send', 'event', {eventCategory: 'Antivirus Blog', eventAction: 'Download', eventLabel: 'Bottom FREE DOWNLOAD banner Product AV'});ga('nT.send', 'event', {eventCategory: 'Antivirus Blog', eventAction: 'Download', eventLabel: 'Bottom FREE DOWNLOAD banner Product AV'});\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8604\" src=\"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Comodo-Free-Antivirus.png\" alt=\"comodo antivirus\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.nurd.com\/home\/purchase.php?pid=109&#038;af=16166\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" onclick=\"ga('send', 'event', {eventCategory: 'Antivirus Blog', eventAction: 'Click', eventLabel: 'GET COMPLETE PROTECTION banner Product CIS Pro'});ga('nT.send', 'event', {eventCategory: 'Antivirus Blog', eventAction: 'Click', eventLabel: 'GET COMPLETE PROTECTION banner Product CIS Pro'});\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8604\" src=\"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/complete-antivirus.png\" alt=\"comodo antivirus\" width=\"650\" height=\"83\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Resources:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.comodo.com\/home\/internet-security\/antivirus.php\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antivirus Software<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/comodo-news\/best-antivirus-for-mac-2018\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Best Antivirus Software for Mac<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple no longer holds the trophy of being more immune to virus problems. In a first, many Apple users recently reported their Mac computers being infected with a kind of ransomware that encrypts files in their computer and demands a \u201cransom\u201d in exchange of decryption. The ransomware, identified as \u201cKeRanger,\u201d allegedly demands 1 bitcoin ($400) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[46,45,47],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comodo-news","tag-keranger","tag-mac-attack","tag-ransomware"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Apple Computers Hit by a Ransomware for the First Time - Comodo Antivirus Blogs | Anti-Virus Software Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mac computer is being blatantly affected by KeRanger which is the first fully functional Ransomware seen against the OS X platform\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/comodo-news\/apple-computers-hit-by-a-ransomware-for-the-first-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apple Computers Hit by a Ransomware for the First Time - 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