A Warning for mac users(i chat virus)

[marky]

It looks like Macs are next, the nerds must be getting bored with Microsoft.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4723390.stm

Most mac users will be fine, when you try to open this the mac says it is a application and requires a admin password to continue.

It's not a virus, anyway ... it's a trojan, or 'malicious software' as Apple calls it. It relies on user ignorance or stupidity to get installed, not a vulnerability in the OS.

[patman76]

The best way to protect yourself on a Mac is not to use an administrator account for day to day running.

You should create a user account for every day usage. Only use the administrator account to install system wide applications and to apply system updates.

This will protect you from such malware, as the user account will need administrator authorisation to run any hidden apps/scripts that try to modify the system - any jpeg that requires authorisation to modify anything should set off the alarm bells!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by patman76

The best way to protect yourself on a Mac is not to use an administrator account for day to day running.

You should create a user account for every day usage. Only use the administrator account to install system wide applications and to apply system updates.

This will protect you from such malware, as the user account will need administrator authorisation to run any hidden apps/scripts that try to modify the system - any jpeg that requires authorisation to modify anything should set off the alarm bells!

Actually, under MacOSX, even with admin rights, you still need to enter the admin password to use admin rights.

If you log in as root (not recommended, and actually disabled by default), you get full admin access without re-entering passwords.

[patman76]

It would appear that as this malware infects the last four recently run applications rather that the system, it could be possible that no authorisation would be required if logged in with an administrator account.

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?...60217093242914