MacRumors have reported that two new pieces of malicious software aimed at Mac computers have been discovered on the Dark Web, offered through Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) and Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) portals and estimated to have been up for around the past three weeks, beginning May 25. Originally spotted by Bleeping Computer, the two portals offer software called “MacSpy” and “MacRansom” as services for potential buyers, as well as any future support that may be needed for the malware (via Motherboard).
Malware attacks on Mac computers were up 744 percent in 2016, although that percentage was largely weighted due to adware bundling in software on MacBooks and iMacs, which is far less alarming than any potential wide-scale malware purchased by a criminal on the Dark Web. Still, Bleeping Computer pointed out in its report that Mac ransomware in particular – which holds user data ransom until a fee is paid — has been steadily growingover the past year.
As a rule of thumb, in order to stay safe users should only download apps and programs from Apple’s own Mac App Store, and if an app is available only on a third-party website the developer behind the software should be trusted.
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