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New Worm targets OS X chat users
Posted by: admin on: 02/17/2006 03:10 PM [ Print | 6 comment(s) ]
ZDnet brings word about a worm that's been discovered in the wild that targets Mac OS X users.
Well, it was only a matter of time. Read more.
| Apple and outside analysts said the program, referred to as Leap-A, is not a "virus" per se. Rather, it "requires a user to download the application and execute the resulting file," Apple said in a statement to CNET News.com. The company provided no further comment on the nature of the program." |
« Microsoft Driver Flaw Saps Battery Strength · New Worm targets OS X chat users
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Tairc Will work for bandwidth! Posts: 117 Joined: 2000-03-01 |
#38800 Posted on: 02/17/2006 03:16 PM
Argh. Another claim of an OS X virus. The 'first' one a few months ago was an executable being sent around by spammers/zombies. You double-clicked on it, and it asked for administrative priveledge. If you gave it such priveledge, it did bad things. "Oh no!" people said. "An OS X virus!" they said. But if I email you a shell script that contains "y | rm -rf *", and you run it, that's not a virus, that's you being an idiot. Nearly the same thing here. You've got a program that comes as a .tar.gz file that you first have to untarzip, then you have to execute it. The only reason it can infect you is because it has an icon that looks like a JPEG. That's not a virus, that's people being uninformed about what they should and shouldn't run. ("But it came from my friend Genine! I know her! I thought you were only supposed to open things from people you know?" "Only people who themselves aren't idiots.") Just a minor rant, as an OS X user who has to put up with people saying "Oh, you have to get AV software now!" It's not a virus, it's a malicious executable (trojan). I will freely admit that it is 100% possible to write a virus for OS X. Heck, the thing has a huge portion of open-source (BSD) code in it - someone's got to know of an unpublished hole. But this isn't it. |
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rmn oh my, it's huge! Posts: 6013 Joined: 2002-01-26 |
#38802 Posted on: 02/17/2006 09:46 PM
There were viruses before the internet. They attached themselves to executables (or executable boot sectors on floppies), essentially turning them into trojans. That's what a virus is. Viruses that spread through networks due to security holes in common services (with no user intervention at all) are called worms. Not every trojan is a virus (it has to infect _other_ executables, or other boot sectors to be considered a virus - which this one doesn't seem to do, so indeed it's not a virus), but requiring user intervention (in the form of running an infected file, accessing an infect floppy, etc.) does not make it a non-virus. RMN ~~~ |
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i_wolf labhair dom as gaelige Posts: 2097 Joined: 2002-11-19 |
#38803 Posted on: 02/18/2006 03:53 AM
Malware (trojans, virus', worms) is software designed with bad intent. Irrespective of OS, it is hard to protect against every eventuality. Apple is and has been lucky on two fronts. Firstly, its relatively small market share has made OS X less of an obvious target... this is obviously changing as OS X picks up more marketshare and notice. Secondly Apple has been lucky that its intrinsic Unix permissions limits damage somewhat. Even this malware, cannot just simply be double clicked and executed. You need administrative accesss with passwords. Requiring passwords can only limit damage. At the end of the day no OS is safe. The only way to prevent malware is to better educate users and put up as many road blocks as possible (permissions possibly part of the answer). Personally I think OS X is a great OS. However, I would not want the OS X community to think we are impervious to malware. We aren't. OS X is just another piece of software. Its good software but its not infallible. I remember reading that 95% of computer security can ultimately lie with the end user. i_wolf Hung like a donkey. Go like a horse! |
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vash SMP Newbie Posts: 63 Joined: 2002-08-07 |
#38804 Posted on: 02/18/2006 03:55 PM
Ok, how long before the email worm that targets Mac users has the title: Free iTunes tracks!!! Or: MacBook Pro 75% OFF! Both of which have a small keylogger attached, prompt for password and are a REAL nuisance to remove (Windows spyware is quite annoying, this will be JUST as bad). |
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rmn oh my, it's huge! Posts: 6013 Joined: 2002-01-26 |
#38814 Posted on: 02/21/2006 07:30 PM
Guess what: http://secunia.com/advisories/18963 RMN ~~~ |
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sponz Ass Klown Posts: 279 Joined: 2000-08-19 |
#38821 Posted on: 02/23/2006 05:57 PM
Serves all the elitests right. "My computer will never get a virus." Can I have a dollar? www.assklown.com heatware under sponz |