Apple users hit by world's first Mac OS X virus

By Andy McCue on 17 February 2006

Apple The Mac malware threat is real, say security experts.

The first virus to target Apple's Mac OS X operating system has been discovered in the wild, according to security experts.

The virus, called Leap-A, was discovered by UK antivirus company Sophos and spreads via the iChat instant messaging system. It forwards itself as a file called latestpics.tgz to contacts on the infected users' buddy list.

The virus appears to have spread after members of a Mac user forum were tricked into clicking on the file, which was posted as an external link promising screenshots of the Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, called this the first "real virus" for the Mac OS X platform.

He said in a statement: "Some owners of Mac computers have held the belief that Mac OS X is incapable of harbouring computer viruses but Leap-A will leave them shell-shocked, as it shows that the malware threat on Mac OS X is real."

Topics: apple, security, virus, mac, os, tiger, x, malware

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Comments (8)

  • tom commented on 11/02/2007 05:08

    iam looking for program

  • Ghost_of_Tiger commented on 20/02/2006 09:30

    There are obviously some very small minded Microsoft bigots out there --- I have both mac and pc laptop's. They both serve their purpose, its just unfortunate how much it cost me to protect the PC over the mac in updates and virus defs. Im not sure that we should call this world breakin though --- mac has had virus's b4, although they required user input. On the other hand Microsoft has some 25,000 varients + to existing virus's per month (www.sage.com release this info). Also up to 500 new virus's created of which very few are critical but nevertheless the writing is on the wall.

  • alanh1 commented on 19/02/2006 18:19

    Welcome to the club

  • Tom commented on 18/02/2006 16:53

    On a scale of 1 to a serious threat.... about a 1. Seriously the amount of steps one has to take to actually infect themselves is ridiculas. You have to provide your user Admin priviliges and anyone gullible enough to install software with a knowlege of what it is, is a fool. Experts agree Mac OSX is a more stable and secure OS, though of course it is not impenitrable. As security expert Alberto Palacios recently said in regards to mac security...

    "It’s easy to write a virus for the Mac; the difficult thing is making it propagate, Palacios said. Anytime an application is installed on a Mac, several pop-up windows will ask the user if they are sure they want to install and run the program. Unless a hacker physically has access to the computer, it’s almost impossible to unknowingly infect it with a virus, he said."

    In short this "virus" thrives on user stupidity and ignorance not on any problems with the OS.

  • anonymous commented on 18/02/2006 11:37

    oh well... now what was I having for lunch again.. mmm

  • bmerry commented on 18/02/2006 09:20

    Welcome to the real world mac users, now please... get off your high horse!

  • anonymous commented on 17/02/2006 21:41

    Personally i think apples kick microsofts **** all the way to some country, the operating system doesnt freeze its so much more simpler and is better for media

  • Joan commented on 17/02/2006 12:36

    Macs are not invicible. It's only a matter of time for malicious acts to begin as Mac gains mainstream popularity.

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