Security researchers have said the first virus to strike Mac OS X operating (discovered Thursday) doesn’t cause any damage, even though it can be annoying because it can potentially spread to hundreds of machines. The virus named “Leap A” or “Oompa” spreads through the iChat instant messaging systems on Apple’s Mac computers by forwarding itself as a file to contacts on the infected user’s buddy list. If the malicious file is clicked on and unzipped, the virus tries to spread to other contacts on the user’s buddy list. The virus has been categorized as a Trojan horse because of the way it disguises itself in order to infect users. What’s most surprising however is a statement by Mr. Coursen (senior technical consultant with Kaspersky Lab) he estimates “there are about 200 viruses for the Mac compared to more than 150,000 viruses for the PC”, where did he pluck that figure from? But this is only the start. Experts believe that because of Apples switch to Intel, coders will find it easier to attack Macs.
November 1st, 2006 at 5:10 pm
well….its november and i havent heard of any virus yet.
the only one that COULD affect was released after 10.4.8 and .8 fixes the vulnerability. so…nothing to worry about.
and for the record, i dont mean that macosx is invulnerable, but that the title is a little excesive, and come on, statement from a guy that works on a antivirus company?
its like the drugstore guy saying you might get a cold some day, buy me medicine ! fortunatedly for us we have our momma taking care of that
July 19th, 2007 at 1:04 am
the processor has nothing to do with coding viruses…its the exploits in the software.