Security News > 2020 > July > Things that happen every four years: Olympic Games, Presidential elections, and now new Mac ransomware

Security bods are sounding the alarm following the discovery of a rare brand-new strain of Mac ransomware.

The team at infosec outfit Malwarebytes told The Register on Tuesday the malware is the first new piece of macOS ransomware it has detected in the past four years.

"It's not unusual for malware to include delays. For example, the first ever Mac ransomware, KeRanger, included a three-day delay between when it infected the system and when it began encrypting files," Reed explained.

Little Snitch developer, and macOS security guru, Patrick Wardle noted that in addition to the ransomware components, the malware also appears to have some limited keylogging ability, can possibly run purely in memory and has the ability to search for and exfiltrate wallet and keys to outside systems.

Other than running decent antivirus tools, and not downloading stuff from shady pirate sites and torrents, Reed recommends users protect themselves by maintaining multiple offline backups, so that they can simply wipe and restore their Mac should ransomware strike.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/07/01/evilquest_ransomware/