Protect your Mac from Ransomware and Malware with Objective-See’s Suite of Free Security Utilities
A few weeks ago, the popular BitTorrent client Transmission was infected with the first ransomware that targets OS X. For those who don’t know, ransomware is malware that encrypts the files on your computer and connected drives, rendering them useless. The bad guys then offer sell you the key to decrypt your machine for several hundred dollars, with the threat that the key will be deleted within a set time period. Once infected, the victim is pretty much screwed, with experts advising the victim to fork over the dough.
Fortunately, experts have been researching ways to prevent ransomware infections. The folks over at Objective-See have been developing a generic solution called RansomWhere?, which detects when an app begins encrypting files and allows the user to block the process before it does a lot of damage. It’s pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it utility.
Objective-See has an entire stable of utilities that help keep track of suspicious processes. Block Block watches for software that installs agents and launch daemons, and presents a Little-Snitch style alert allowing you to block or allow them. There are a few on-demand scanners that find different categories of files and processes and return Virus Total scores. Lockdown imposes restrictive OS configurations that remove some vulnerable settings, at the (expense of convience). Ostiarius is a more blocks unsigned applications from launching in a more aggressive fashion than Gatekeeper. However, I’d exercise caution and lay off them if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Objective-See is doing some great things under the radar deserves to be better known. Did I mention, all of these utilities are free?