It appears that the Mac computer is not as safe as many people would believe it is. The flagship operating system of Apple was recently attacked for the first time by a ransomware called KeRanger. The ransomware was hidden deep in the popular BitTorrent application Transmission and infected Mac users when they downloaded that latest version of the application.

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A ransomware is a type of malware that hides itself in a program and once an unknowing user downloads and installs it, the malware will bind itself to the user's files. After infecting a computer, it will encrypt user files and the only way to decrypt them is to pay a ransom, usually in a form of digital currency.

These types of attack have been rampant over the past few years and have even struck computers in a hospital. The hospital was forced to pay $17,000 worth of ransom in order to regain control of its computer system. The hackers originally demanded $3.7 million.

On March 4, an undisclosed number of Mac users suffered the same fate after they download Transmission version 2.90. Apple's Threat Intelligence Director Ryan Olson confirmed that the KeRanger malware is in fact the first ransomware to successfully penetrate the Mac operating system.

In a statement posted on the company's official blog, Apple wrote, "Attackers infected two installers of Transmission version 2.90 with KeRanger on the morning of March 4. When we identified the issue, the infected DMG files were still available for downloading from the Transmission site."

According to RT, once KeRanger successfully infects a computer, it demands for a ransom in bitcoin amounting to $400. Apple said that it is working on various contingency plans to fix the issue. Moreover, the company said that users who do not pay the ransom will start losing their data on March 7.

Tagsapple, Apple Mac, Mac, Mac computer, Mac ransomware, ransomware, Malware