Hello David and everyone:
Thank you for this. I had not seen this one. Oh yes and David, the Dave
reference I used in my example bares no resemblance to you (smile). Just
thought I would set the record straight. ----- Start Original Message -----
From: David Poehlman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by the
blind <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Personal Tech: Wake-Up Call for Mac Users
> If you haven't seen this one already, here it is. This one looks
> pretty dangerous.
>
> <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W1RH0317EC4F1DD4EF87F32F3C4810>
>
> Personal <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/
> W1RH0317EC6F9DD4EF87F32F3C4810>
> Tech Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006 Washington Post
>
> Wake-Up Call for Mac Users
>
> One of the great injustices of the computing world was finally addressed
> last week -- Mac users can no longer complain that Windows folks get
> to hog
> all the viruses for themselves. Now they have some of their own.
>
> As my colleagues Brian Krebs and Mike Musgrove wrote in Friday's
> paper, a
> new, largely ineffectual virus
> <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W1RH0317EC3FBDD4EF87F32F3C4810> has
> begun targeting Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the latest version of Apple's
> operating
> system.
>
> This particular piece of malware -- called "OSX/Leap.A" by Symantec and
> "Oompa-Loompa" by Mac software developer Andrew Welch, who published
> one of
> the first documentations
> <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W1RH0317EC4FADD4EF87F32F3C4810>
> of it
> online -- comes disguised as a compressed archive of the latest
> screen shots
> of Apple's next operating system.
>
> But when you decompress this "latestpics.tgz" archive, you only see a
> single
> file that has a JPEG picture's icon -- except that file is a small
> program
> that will embed copies of itself in other programs on a Mac, then spread
> itself <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/
> W1RH0317EC3E5DD4EF87F32F3C4810>
> via Apple's iChat instant-messaging program.
>
> So how much trouble are Mac users in? Is it true that, as Krebs wrote
> in his
> chat, "the security honeymoon may be over
> <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W1RH0317EC4E4DD4EF87F32F3C4810>
> for Mac
> users"?
>
> I don't think so. First, there never was such a thing as a security
> honeymoon. Mac OS X was and remains more resistant to malware attacks
> than
> Windows, thanks in large part to the restrictions it places on the
> ability
> of any user and any program to tinker with the guts of the system.
> (You'll
> find this same basic defense deployed in Microsoft's Windows Vista
> when that
> successor to Windows XP ships later this year). But the Mac never was
> and
> never will be Shangri-La.
>
> To read more of Rob Pegoraro's weekly e-letter, click
> <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W1RH0317EF948DD4EF87F32F3C4810> here.
>
> -Rob Pegoraro
>
>
>
> <http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W1GH054F963B6DD4EF87F32F3C4810>
>
>
>
>
>
----- End Original Message -----
