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A Worm In The Apple
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-02-16
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Abingdon, England-based SophosLabs discovered a worm in the Apple OS X platform. The virus named OSX/Leap-A or OSX/Oompa-A moves through instant messaging, specifically, the iChat client.
Sophos said the worm spreads itself via the iChat by forwarding itself as a file called latestpics.tgz to the various contacts in a user's buddy list. When the archive file is opened on a computer, it disguises its contents with a jpeg icon to fool people into thinking it's harmless. The Oompa part comes in as an infection marker in the resource forks of the infected programs to protect it from re-infecting the same files.
"Some owners of Mac computers have held the belief that Mac OS X is incapable of harboring computer viruses, but Leap-A will leave them shellshocked, as it shows that the malware threat on Mac OS X is real," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Mac users shouldn't think it's okay to lie back and not worry about viruses."
Experts at Sophos are continuing to examine OSX/Leap-A and will issue further information shortly. Sophos customers have been automatically protected against the worm since 12:25 GMT, 16 February 2006.
"This is the first real virus for the Mac OS X platform," continued Cluley. "Apple Mac users need to be just as careful running unknown or unsolicited code on their computers as their friends and colleagues running Windows."
Sophos advises all computer users, whether running PCs or Macs, to practise safe computing and keep their anti-virus software updated.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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