Daily Tech Snippet: Wednesday, March 9

• Apple Ransomware Attack Casts Light on a Booming Shadow Industry: The first widespread ransomware attack on Apple Inc. computers is drawing attention to a growing and lucrative corner of the hacking underworld where attackers encrypt and hold data hostage until they are paid to unlock the information. An estimated 6,500 Macs were infected with malicious software designed to make files inaccessible to owners of desktops and laptops, according to the Transmission Project, a file-sharing software provider. The decision to target Apple’s OS X software, which is both harder to hack and less widespread than Microsoft Corp.’s Windows, underscores how attractive the practice has become, according to Clifford Neuman, who teaches cybersecurity at the University of Southern California. Researchers at Palo Alto Networks Inc. discovered the ransomware, which they dubbed KeRanger, on March 4. Once downloaded and installed, the bug demanded that users pay one bitcoin to decrypt the data, or about $411 at Friday’s prices. The researchers informed Apple, which revoked a certificate that allowed Macs to download the software, and Transmission updated its program to eliminate the infection, according to Ryan Olson, intelligence director at Palo Alto Networks. “The business model is working so well on Windows that, when they had an opportunity to do so on Mac, they did it,” Olson said. “It’s been effective to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.”

• Lyft is catching up with Uber in New York City: Lyft is gaining momentum in a key market for the company and its more established competitor, Uber. According to figures the company provided to Re/code, Lyft has seen its driver pool grow by a factor of four and has seen six times the number of active weekly riders in New York since May 2015. In February of this year, Lyft drivers in New York performed six times the total number of rides they performed in May 2015, the company said. It’s a clear indicator that New York riders and drivers have warmed up to the pink-mustachioed ride-hailing company despite Uber’s first-mover advantage. The growth in riders is in part a result of the recent fare cuts Lyft implemented across 33 cities, including New York (following Uber’s fare cuts in more than 80 cities), but it also follows the company’s increased investment in its marketing efforts both in terms of staff as well as in promotions and ad buys.

• Amazon Is Launching a Live QVC-Type Show as Part of Push Into Fashion: By some estimates, Amazon could be the No. 1 apparel seller in the U.S. by next year. Now, it’s unveiling a live daily show on Amazon.com to help push that initiative. Called “Style Code Live,” the free 30-minute video show will stream live on Amazon.com each weekday at 9 pm ET. The show will feature fashion and beauty tips and a live chat that the company says will allow viewers to communicate with the hosts. The most Amazon-y piece of the experience, though, will be a product carousel showing viewers the stuff related to the show that they can purchase on Amazon.com. And you have to believe this feature is as much about awareness for Amazon’s clothing-selling business as it is about making direct sales of stuff from the show. It follows last week’s Amazon announcement that it would begin airing a free reality show called “The Fashion Fund,” which documents a competition among up-and-coming fashion designers.

• Subleases spike in number as SF startups downsize: In January, office rents in San Francisco eclipsed those of New York to become the most expensive in the country. Two months later, there are signs the San Francisco may not maintain its dubious position for long. The biggest indicator: There’s suddenly 1.7 million square feet of sublease space available in San Francisco, up more than 50 percent from 1.1 million square feet in November, according to CBRE Group, a commercial real estate services and investment firm. That kind of jump in four months’ time suggests ripple effects from a funding slowdown that stretch beyond a small but growing number of layoffs. If the trend isn’t giving local landlords flashbacks of the late 1990s, it may soon. The Bay Area’s real estate market enjoyed a historically active 2015, with San Francisco accounting for the world’s highest rent growth at 14 percent, according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. The last time San Francisco surpassed New York in price per square footage, says CBRE, was 2000, the same year the tech market famously peaked, then abruptly imploded.