A new MacOS X worm is making the rounds on the net disguising itself as pictures of “MacOS X Leopard” an upcoming version of MacOS X.
Some important points for this malware was taken from a forum at
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102379
You cannot be infected by this unless you do all of the following:
- Are somehow sent (via email, iChat, etc.) or download the “latestpics.tgz” file
- Double-click on the file to decompress it
- Double-click on the resulting file to “open” it
… and then for most users, you must also enter your Admin password.
You cannot simply “catch” the virus. Even if someone does send you the “latestpics.tgz” file, you cannot be infected unless you unarchive the file, and then open it.
So just to be on the safe side, don’t download the file hehe. =p
More info can be found on the forum mentioned above.
Update(JoneZ, 17 February 2006 14:06:34)
Further analysis shows that this malware can propagate via iChat. Trend Micro will be detecting this malware as OSX_LEAP.A (yup it’s a new prefix OSX_).
More details about this malware can be found in the following links: