Mac ransomware author is giving away malicious code to script kiddies Security researchers have discovered a ransomware variant that targets Macs rather than Windows PCs. Although technically inferior to most current ransomware targeting Windows, it still encrypts or prevents access to victim's files, thereby causing real damage, according to researchers at Fortinet. MacRansom uses symmetric …
The role of the script kiddie is restricted to distributing the nasty using booby-trapped emails or direct installation.
AFAIK, booby-trapped email doesn't really work on a Mac (unless it's with using Outlook, in which case it would not surprise me at all).
The author discourages drive-by download attacks
Again, not a known problem on macOS but I may be mistaken so I'd welcome a link or the name of a nasty that would achieve that. Key to security is separating fact from fiction, yet remain open to new developments.
1) It is true. Macs can be compromized.
2) This article is out of date and meaningless becasue Xprotect was updated 6/7 to kill these programs.
So are some mac users a bit too smug about mac vunerabilities? Sure! But can you see why? First you have to be fooled into providing your authentication password and then within days (a week before the press started trying to get click's from screaming the sky is falling). Apple quietly forces out a fix that blocks the software entirely.
We are smug because we can be.
We are smug because we can be.
No. There is never an argument for smugness, at best you can argue for feeling relieved that you do not have to spend quite such a large amount of resources on keeping the platform safe, but smugness is ill advised because that suggests a feeling of safety that you are advised to lose ASAP.
Macs take a lot less effort to keep safe, but you still have to put some effort in, and there is simply no argument for dropping your guard.
I understand the sentiment you want to express, but it's dangerous. Safer does not equal safe. Even Linux is not immune.
The ransomware only encrypts a maximum of 128 files...[and] is being offered through a ransomware-as-a-service delivery model...
Poor Mac users! They only get some of their files encrypted. Looks as though Windows users get the best service after all.
Please see icon before sending virtual glares or worse my direction.
Cyber Crime as a Service.
Available here just distribute for me and get paid. Unlimited earning potential. Work from home. Suckers born every minute.
Oh, and to keep up with current trends... IRS coming soon to knock on your door, and remote fix available. Just pay here.
Will it never end? I suspect not if money is on the table.
Aw, come on, someone's finally thinking of the children! Just because they're a bunch of malevolent miscreants doesn't mean that someone shouldn't throw them a bone.
Really, though, there's been malware kits available for some time. The next bot army should have something like Docker, so that the herder can rent time for nefarious calculations.
Come to think of it, when the robot revolution happens, how many will be infested with malware?
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