First real virus for Mac OS X :(

"Leap-A" and "Oompa-A"

First ever virus for Mac OS X discovered
http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/02/macosxleap.html

http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/osxleapa.html

 

but they aren't able to do to much. I don't think that it has a chance at damaging the os. losing files would be annoying tho. good thing i dont use ichat.

 

it was just a matter of time, the more popular it gets the more there will be.

 

I agree, but doubt it'll be long before others, possibly more able to do damage, begin to show up.

 

If intel macbook gets very popular, and consumers started to buy them, there would be more viruses.

 

like i alway say, linux/mac aren't like a million times more secure than windows (as many people believe), just that most people use windows, thus, more virus programmers for windows.

 

Macs have enjoyed a virtually virus free OS for so long only because they've been pretty rare and make up only 1% of the total share of computers, while Windows makes up some 97%-98% of the share. Hackers see Windows as a much more appealing target, as they are able to affect many more users than if they targeted their viruses at Mac. As Mac's market share grows, it'll see more and more viruses coming its way.

 

can someoneexplain why do people make viruses? what is the point?

 

cause they are pricks

 

It is only a matter of time before more viruses start comming out and more deadlier.

 

Most hacks would probably make them to reek havoc on businesses and home users - they want to get the "satisfaction" of interfering with other people's lives (they probably don't have a life themselves, but...). Other hackers create viruses/worms in the hope of hacking into or taking down a certain site. Other hackers try to steal money from bank/credit union sites.

EDIT: Just found out: The virus for Mac turned out to be a dud - no trojan for the Mac! (w00t for Mac owners!)

 

You forgot something... In Russia, there are organizations/cults/net gangs whatever you want to call them. They will pay you up to $50,000 if you make a remotely deployable exploit for Windows and give it to them without setting it into the wild (So that they can).. Hmm.. Guess I shouldn't post links to that..

Microsoft made a $5,000,000 bounty-hunting program to counter stuff like that.. Rewards are $250,000 to $500,000. That I think I can post a link to.
http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/05/technology/microsoftbounty/index.htm

Its like the wild-west..

 

Oh stop your whining. It just one. =/

 

I hadn't heard the good news. Can you provide a source or link, please?

 

I just ran clamxav, and found one java windows worm, too bad for that worm, it got deleted. it chose the wrong machine to try to mold.

 

Second Mac OS X worm spreads via Bluetooth vulnerability
(from Sophos).

 

Chaz posted this a couple of days ago: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2779

This shows the first trojan doesn't do a whole lot, but I'm not sure about that Bluetooth one. Best advice: Keep your Bluetooth off until you need to use it.

 

They have no life so all they could do is showcasing their programming prowess.

 

hopefully better active virus scanners will be available soon for os x

 

I'm not sure why you bother searching up a year old story.

In any case, I use ViruxBarrier X4. It's faster and lighter than Norton which isn't universal anyways.

 

I'm using clamvax and highlihted the files on the mac hard drive and am scanning now. I wish there was a way to just tell it to scan all the files.

 

I can't believe people actually LONG FOR antivirus for Macs. Antivirus, passive or active, have been available for Windows for a long time. How well have they protected the windows machine at large?? See, what harm did this virus from a year ago did to the OS X community where almost no one uses antivirus software? Read the Sophos release. They want to sell their product, that's all. They want to fabricate a need of antivirus where there is none, and they are afraid of loosing market with macs gaining marketshare. Just like they whined when Vista got more secure.

 

If Mac's get virsus, they will crash like windows, why buy a MAC

 

Come on! OS X is not as insecure as windows for many reasons.

Everything on a unix system is a file, a network connection, a keyboard input, everything. Every file has got permisions, group ownership, user ownership, user permissions, group permissions, and "others" permissions.

You can change every single permission, you can allow others to write read and exec while the group can only read and exec, while the user can not do anything.

If you are on a normal user acount (that means, no root or administrator), you normally cant delete important files and so on without the admin autorization. Pretty much what they tryed to do with vista, but this doesn't suck lol.

Much of the linux/unix AV check mainly for WINDOWS viruses (why? i dont know, maybe because they share a connection with many windows systems)

So..... come on! osx is far more secure than windows!

 

Its funny how the only reports of "viruses" for Macs come from anti-virus software developers and never anyone else.

Or they're proven to be fakes.