It’s March 7, 2016 and if you like to torrent with your Mac, you could be a victim to the first successful piece of malware to target Mac computers. Up until now, Apple has managed to keep Mac owners’ systems safe, but researchers have discovered a piece of Ransomware that has been spreading itself around through torrent client, Transmission.
If you’ve been availing yourself of the vast seas of pirated content – because, let’s face it, that’s what most folks use torrents for – then you may be at risk. Specifically, if you downloaded Transmission between March 4-5 you’re probably infected. Transmission recommends you head to its official site and download the latest version to make sure you’re not running an infected piece of software.
The group that discovered the software call it KeRanger, and it essentially encrypts all of the data on your computer, making it impossible to access until you send 1 Bitcoin — about $400 — to have it released. The researchers who found it say the malware is still under development and appears to be preparing to take Time Machine backup data hostage too, so victims would have little-to-no recourse.
Apparently the software was signed with an official Mac app certificate, and that’s how it got through.
Now that a Mac has been successfully targeted, will Apple crack down and prevent others from following suit, or will the vulnerability be exploited again? We’ll know soon enough.
Yelp for People
Brace yourselves, folks. Peeple, the contentious app that’s been called “Yelp for people” has officially launched. Don’t worry, though, it’s not as bad as it might sound. Not right away, anyway.
When news of the app broke back in October, people got nervous. After all, in an age where what’s said about someone online could potentially destroy their life, why in the world would we want a platform that makes that easier? Perhaps in response to widespread concern, the Canadian pair that created the app made some significant changes, not the least of which is that individuals have to be registered users to get rated, and they have to approve of reviews before they’ll be posted. Users can also hide their reviews. BUT, and it’s a big one, a paid tier might allow someone to see all reviews, positive and negative, whether they were posted publicly or not. Peeple provides some anecdotal examples that paint the creators’ honest intentions, but we all know that if such a “truth license” could be purchased, it could be damaging to a person’s reputation.
Does this sound like a terrible idea to anyone else? Managing an online reputation is already hard enough, and this app could make it a lot harder, though ideally, not signing up at all could prevent all that. What do you think? The comment section is right down below. That’s enough disconcerting news for one day, let’s hope for a slightly more uplifting day tomorrow, right? As always if you like what we’re doing please like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow
