March 7, 2016
Hackers have infected a number of Macs with “KeRanger” malware which demands owners pay one bitcoin (about £280) for their files to be unencrypted.
Users began unwittingly downloading the malicious programme as they tried to install popular software called Transmission, which is used to transfer data on BitTorrent.
The “ransomware” stays quiet for three days after infecting each computer – and then starts to make documents, photographs, videos and other precious files inaccessible.