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General discussion

Mac Users IMPORTANT - Our first OSX Virus??

Feb 15, 2006 5:59PM PST
http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/02/20060216005401.shtml

It is unclear at the moment what the exact classification of this threat may be but it currently appears to be a non-propogating Trojan horse.

The file is called: latestpics.tgz and opens as a JPEG in terminal. When unzipped, two files will appear. Double-clicking on the one called "._latestpics" will launuch an executable with routines such as:

_infect:
_infectApps:
_installHooks:
_copySelf:

Further details can be found here:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102379

-Kevin S.

Discussion is locked

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Matter of time
Feb 16, 2006 1:26AM PST

It was only a matter of time before people started targeting Macs (more heavily), now its off to targeting Linux & BSD.

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Threat level raised
Feb 16, 2006 2:27AM PST

The latest update on the Mac OSX virus is that it DOES send itself to other users in your iChat buddy list so it is self-propogating.

-Kevin S.

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Luckily
Feb 16, 2006 6:32AM PST

It seems that it doesn't really do much other than spread itself.

I just realized that I haven't visited Ambrosia's website in forever, and that makes me sad.

-Ryan

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Same old lesson
Feb 16, 2006 6:55AM PST

Don't download and run attachments from people you don't know and trust.

Didn't we all learn this lesson several years ago?

Scott

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Not trying to brag...
Feb 16, 2006 8:07AM PST

But, its been such a long time since I have gotten a virus. The last time that I got a virus was when I got my first computer and the Internet and I was going everywhere in the world downloading whatever I could find.

Now that my computer skills have matured and I am very cautious about what I download and where I go online, who I open links from in emails & IM conversations. Very cautious about opening emails with attachments...and so on...

I also make sure that my virus definitions are up-to-date and the software is running around the clock as well as anti-spyware software and keeping it up-to-date as well.

I'm not saying you won't get a virus if you do all of this, but it will keep you protected a lot better.

Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!

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Not to worry
Feb 16, 2006 10:35AM PST

Given the low market penetration of Apple it is very unlikely that a virus will be able to propagate and live in the wild for any period of time.

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Just in case
Feb 16, 2006 10:45AM PST

I know that someone writing a "real" virus for OSX is unlikely If only because it's constantly being updated (everyone ready for 10.5?).

I used Win***s for a long time so I'm still a little paranoid. So just to humor me dose anyone know of any good antivirus/ antispyware program for mac? (preferably open-source)


thanks in advance
Philip P.

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ClamXav
Feb 16, 2006 11:04AM PST

I use ClamWin on the slower machines on my network. It doesn't have an on access scanner (i.e., doesn't run around the clock) However, it does run on the really nice ClamAV scanning engine which is very popular on Linux file/web/database servers.

This version is of course for the Mac, so I can't tell you whether its any good or not since I do not have a Mac to test it on, however I can tell you the Windows version is very good.

Hope this helps! I will keep looking for others.

http://www.clamxav.com/

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thanks
Feb 16, 2006 11:47AM PST

Thanks Andy,
Wow that's great I'll keep looking too.

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(NT) (NT) No problem
Feb 16, 2006 12:32PM PST
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why do viruses never do nice things?
Feb 16, 2006 10:43AM PST

i'm such a hippy inside! lol

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If I could
Feb 16, 2006 10:48AM PST

If I new how I'd write one to fix Windows but it seems that even the Micrsoft guys "can't" do that.

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(NT) (NT) ROFL
Feb 16, 2006 10:57AM PST