A popular app for downloading movies and music was infected with ransomware, again
Built by a team of volunteers, Transmission is software that allows people to download movies, games, and other files through torrents, which splits large files into tiny pieces spread out among many users.
Researchers at ESET recently uncovered some nasty ransomware code called OSX/Keydnap hidden inside the official download file for Transmission being distributed on its website sometime between Aug. 28 and 29.
The Transmission team pulled the file "literally minutes" after being notified by ESET.
Though it's not clear how many people may have downloaded the affected file, this is a much larger blow to Transmission's reputation, since this is the second time this has happened in the past six months.
In March, Palo Alto Networks discovered ransomware hidden inside the software on their server, which was notably the first fully-functional ransomware built specifically for OSX. Now, less than six months later, the servers of Transmission were being used to distribute malware again, and the breach happened in pretty much the same way.
ESET advises users who may have downloaded Transmission between Aug. 28 and 29 to check for new directory listings that the ransomware code would have created. The ransomware can be removed using these steps at the Transmission website.
Transmission said on its website that it appears the attackers gained unauthorized access to their website server on Aug. 28. After the breach was discovered, the team removed the infected file and is moving its website and files for download over to Github.
"We are in the process of investigating the incident and will share any relevant information," the team wrote in an update.