First ever virus for Mac OS X discovered

[piratePenguin]

Experts at SophosLabs

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Looks like they better fix iChat ...

the malware threat on Mac OS X is real

because of a single virus that spreads through a single program ? I guess this applies to Linux too, at least to Linux servers running a particular program, and who have neglected to update it. Somehow I feel they are leaving out the virus-laden cesspool called Window$.

[piratePenguin]

Whenever they fix iChat, do the users have to wait 'till 10.4.6?
It would be worrying if they did.

10.8.36223, anyone?

[cymon]

Seeing as how I don't use IM, and thus don't give a flying fuck about iChat or AIM or Yahoo!, this once again doesn't affect me. Also, having the common sense not to click on a file from an untrusted sender protects me, even if I run XP.

[worker201]

Whenever they fix iChat, do the users have to wait 'till 10.4.6?
It would be worrying if they did.

Apple releases security updates separately than system updates.  So the answer would be no.  All they/we have to do is wait until Apple decides what the proper fix is.  For all I know, they could have a patch already.

[Calum]

apple's updates tend to (from what i have heard) be the size of microsoft's service packs (150MB for example) so some people aren't going to be applying that so quickly, are they?

[worker201]

Sometimes they are pretty big.  But lets compare apples and Apples.

Apple - large update every 4 months or so, normally (until yesterday) for problems no users were even aware of

Microsoft - small updates every week or so, for problems that should have been patched months ago

I think Apple has done pretty well for itself.  And most Apple users that I know are pretty good about getting those updates when they come out.

[davidnix71]

It's not a virus. It's malware that IM's you what appears to be a jpeg. If you attempt to open it, even logged in as admin, you will be prompted for a password because it is really a script. If you are not running as admin, then you will have to give it an admin name and password or your keychain password. If you are stupid enough to give an admin password to open what appears to be a picture, then it writes itself into iChat and tries to pass itself on to your IM buddies.

[worker201]

How dumb.  A self-propagating worm.  Yawn.

[WMD]

apple's updates tend to (from what i have heard) be the size of microsoft's service packs (150MB for example) so some people aren't going to be applying that so quickly, are they?

No, not at all.  The biggest plain security update I've ever seen was 20MB, and that thing fixed over a dozen vulnerabilities.  The biggest updates are things like 10.3.0 to 10.3.9, which is nearly 150MB.  But that's over a year's worth of stuff.

[Aloone_Jonez]

SP2  for XP was pretty big  >75MB if I remember I know this is Windows and not MAcOS I'm just saying)

[sjor]

The new Mac OS X update (10.4.5) specifically said the iChat was updated. So there we go, no worries!  
The 10.4.5 update was only 4 MB for PPC, but was 40 something for Intel.

[Aloone_Jonez]

Talking of viruses for non-Windows OSes, how many are there?

Does Linux have any viruses and are they any worse than this one?

[cahult]

I don

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Talking of viruses for non-Windows OSes, how many are there?

Does Linux have any viruses and are they any worse than this one?

I think this worm is the only thing. It's a worm not a virus, and it only affects an unpatched webserver program ... you were the one who informed us of it. Other than that, I don't know of anything.