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New OS X Ransomware discovered - comments from Webroot

March 2016 by David Kennerley, Senior Manager for Threat Research at Webroot

Following the news that Palo Alto Networks has found a new form ransomware that targets OS X, please find below comments from David Kennerley, Senior Manager for Threat Research at Webroot.

Ransomware has been on the rise in recent months, with Lincolnshire County Council being hit by a £1m demand in late January. Given the potential gains for attackers, it’s no surprise that they are now diversifying and targeting OS X – a popular system with a large target base. Add to this the fact that many people believe they are safe from such malware when running OS X, this ransomware has the potential to impact a huge number of people.

The reason this criminal business model is so successful is that the cost of decrypting the files by paying the ransom is now seen as more cost effective than restoring from offline backups’– if they even exist. This is especially the case for organisations, where mission critical data has been encrypted, not just on the one machine but the entire network. This was highlighted recently when a hospital in Los Angeles paid the ransom demands, resulting in the fastest possible option for restoring normal operations.

Organisations need to be aware of this type of threat and take all necessary steps to protect their infrastructure and data by using threat intelligence and backup solutions. As with any attack, the threat actor will firstly attempt to target the weakest link in any security set-up. Nine times of out ten that’s the end user, so organisations need to invest in security education programs and initiatives, and reward those with good security practices.


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