Mac OS X virus discovered
Posted: 2006-02-17 02:17am
Yeah, I was on the MacRumors forum when the original thread came about when the virus was released.
Actually, after a whole lot of debate, the consensus is that it is not actually a virus, but a trojan. It uses no vulnerabilities in the system and just works as a complex application.
That makes this the third trojan for the Mac, but the first to actually be released in the wild and the first to self-propogate.
Simple ways to avoid the virus:
Turn on "Always show extensions". After you unstuff the .tgz file you'll get an executable with a hidden extension and the ICON of a JPEG, making it appear to be a JPEG file. If Always Show Extensions is on, it'll obviously be an executable, not a JPEG.
If you double click on an image and it opens in Terminal, Press Ctrl-C and then Apple-Q very quickly.
And don't download any file called "latestpics".
Chances of being infected are rather low. It requires deliberate actions on the part of the person receiving it and there are some bugs in the code. It only works on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger because it uses Spotlight to find what it wants to infect.