The first known attack on Apple Mac computers happened was discovered over this past weekend. The ransomware attack was downloaded more than 6000 times before the threat was identified and contained.

The attack happened by hackers infecting Macs with the “KeRanger” ransomware through a tainted copy of Transmission — a popular program for transferring data through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

“Ransomware is a type of malicious software that restricts access to a computer system in some way and demands the user to pay a ransom to the malware operator to remove the restrictions.”

The threat is small in comparison to the same type of ransomware attack on computers running Microsoft Windows operating system — where Cyber security from Symantec saw some 8.8 million attacks alone in 2014.

Although Apple Mac threats are rare they are only going to become more common as the KeRanger hackers and other groups will find new ways to infect Mac computers

It is important not to be complacent and always ensure you have security software to keep your computer safe. We offer the ESET Cyber Security Pro Antivirus, Firewall, and Parental Control protection for Mac.

The truth is that no operating system is 100% secure. Even if it was, vulnerabilities, let’s say in third party applications, can be exploited by malware.