According to experts, most of the ransomware attacks target Windows computers. However, cyber criminals are constantly evolving their techniques and looking to expand the range of potential targets.
Apple has always prided itself on offering a more secure operating system, with macOS, than its competitors. Microsoft security researchers expose four families of ransomware that abuse macOS vulnerabilities on their blog.
The macOS malware families investigated by Microsoft include KeRanger (a variant of Linux.Encoder), FileCoder, MacRansom, and EvilQuest.
In addition, Microsoft noted, "As on other platforms, the initial vector of Mac ransomware relies most often on user-mediated methods, such as downloading and running fake or Trojan-containing applications." Likewise, "Once executed, ransomware attacks typically involve accessing, executing, encrypting the target computer files, and informing the ransom message."