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Apple users until now have been largely invulnerable to viruses and worms, but with the release of a new worm targeting OSX this has all changed.Named OSX.Leap.A, this worm spreads via iChat Instant Messenger program, and it only infects files on the Macintosh OS X version 10.4, also known as Tiger.
According to Symantec, the virus arrives as an archive attachment to an iChat Instant Message named latestpics.gz. If the user opens the archive, the file latestpics is created. Once OSX.Leap.A is executed, it deletes files and uses Spotlight to search for the most commonly used applications. After this, everytime iChat is opened the file latestpics.tgz is automatically sent to all the iChat contacts.
However, Symantec says that due to a bug in the worm’s code the file may not be sent successfully, which has resulted in a very low number of infections – under 50 at this stage.
Symantec has rated the threat as low, but it is likely this worm will encourage other virus writers to develop more sophisticated infections.
