First ever OS X ransomware encrypts your data and asks for money

Ransomware is a particularly nasty piece of malware: After your computer is infected, it encrypts your data and refuses to give you the key unless you pay its makers a sum of money. Save for any glaring mistakes in the malware's implementation, paying up is usually the only feasible way to get your data back, especially if you don't have a backup. 

Now, according to security company Palo Alto Networks, the first functional ransomware that operates on Apple's OS X has been discovered. 

Dubbed KeRanger, the malware was embedded with version 2.90 of the Transmission software, normally a legitimate BitTorrent app. It waits three days before encrypting certain types of data on an infected system, and then it asks for one bitcoin (around $405) in ransom.  Read more...