Mabouia: The first MAC OS X ransomware

Mabouia: The first MAC OS X ransomware

It is a myth that the Apple's MACs are safer and affected less by malwares. On contrary,MAC OS is equally affected by viruses and malware attacks and there are several critical vulnerabilities discovered recently. However ransomware targetting MAC OS was not previously known. Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.

Mabouia: The first MAC OS X ransomware

Ransomware encrypts files stored on the machine, then displays a message informing the user that a decryption key must be purchased in order to recover access to the files held at ransom. A Brazilian Cybersecurity Researcher known as Rafael Salema Marques (@pegabizu),published yesterday a proof of concept about the existence of MAC OS ransomware. It is called Mabouia,the first ransomware that targets MAC OS X. This is a real and serious one, unlike the MAC OS FBI Ransomware  which was just a few lines of javascript code and essentialy a prank.

Mabounia Ransomware-How It Works

Mabounia Ransomware is coded in C++ and uses the Cryptographic Algorithm XTEA  with 32 roundsto encrypt the user files. Mabounia ransomware will only modify the user’s personal files hence it does not need superuser privileges for the execution of malicious code.Thus infection occurs with just one click.

MAC Users Beware.

According to the creator of Mabouia,Mac users are a good target for ransomware, because generally they have a higher purchasing power and use the computer in a superficial way. The researcher’s goal is to alert the 66 million users of Mac OS X about the dangers of such a ransomware.

How Mabounia Ransomware affects MAC OS X Can be watched live from the below link. (PoC)