New OSX parasitic virus found

Symantec report proof-of-concept file infector for Mac.

Analysts at

Symantec

have received samples of a proof-of-concept file infector for the

Apple Mac OSX

platform. The virus, dubbed ‘OSX/Macarena’ after the mid-nineties chart hit and dance craze, is capable of infecting any files executed once it is running – as long as they are in the same directory as the original viral file. The parasite has no payload other than replication.

‘This new finding is unlikely to put an end to the long-running debate over

Mac

security, recently stirred up by the the

iPod

virus issue and the resulting

war of words

between

Apple

and

Microsoft

,’ said

John Hawes

, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. ‘With its fairly limited capabilities,

Symantec

have classed the finding as very low risk, but

Mac

users should hopefully be reminded that they aren’t invulnernable to malware, and should take the usual precautions.’

Symantec

‘s analysis of the virus is

here

, and a blog entry from Peter Ferrie on the findings is

here

.

Posted on 03 November 2006 by

Virus Bulletin