As far as viruses are concerned, Apple computers have always been the safer bet. It’s often Android and Windows products that have been targeted. In the last few days, that changed.
Apple Mac computers were targeted by hackers. The culprits used ransomaware. This is the first attack of it’s kind in Apple history. Ransomware is malware that blocks access to your own computer. Hackers remotely take control and will demand a ransom be paid before they give control back to the machine’s owner. This time, the ‘KeRanger’ virus was used. It was born through a tainted copy of data transfer program called Transmission. This piece of ransomware was downloaded over 6,000 times. That’s a very small dent compared to the 8.8 million cyber attacks that happened in 2014 alone. ?The good news is that Apple’s top developers thwarted and stopped the attacks from getting worse. The bad news, according to cyber experts, is more ‘KeRanger’ ransomware attacks should be expected.?”It’s a small number but these things always start small and ramp up huge,” said a?Fidelis Cybersecurity manager, claiming there’s a lot of money to be made. Apple rep said it will prevent further attacks by revoking certificates that enable rouge software. Transmission is doing it’s part as well. They removed the tainted 2.90 software and replaced it with 2.92, which fights ransomware.
We shouldn’t be surprised that hackers tried to go after Macs. And the experts are right. They will try again. Remember the FBI virus, when they made the virus look like the FBI put a hold on the screen. It was really ransomware hackers. I’m glad Apple developers stop KeRanger before it spread like wildfire. But this proves Apple isn’t immune. It seems almost daily, hackers are getting smarter, more clever, and more deceitful. Don’t let this stop you from buying a Mac. They’re going after any device they can. So if the bad guys are getting smarter, shouldn’t we be?