In reading about why it seems so difficult for Microsoft to develop an OS that isn’t full of security holes, I came across this. OSX.Leap.A. The very first virus on Apple’s OS X operating system? Wow. I mean, I knew, it would happen eventually. Especially as Macs are becoming more and more popular and consumer-friendly.
As far as viruses go, this one seems pretty tame. Technically, it’s not even a virus. It’s a trojan. Very low risk. I don’t even think it’s around anymore. It utilized a very specific vulnerability in iChat to distribute itself, and only on Intel-based Macs, but there were less than 50 known infections.
According to Mac360:
The two known examples of Trojans, (Leap-A and Oompa-Loompa), required the user to accept and download a compressed zip file, open it, and double click on the file inside, then type their password in order for their Macs to be compromised. This is not a “well written” trojan, but a simple matter of Social Engineering, fooling the end user with a promise of something for free.
So, 114,000 for Windows, still 0 for OS X.
Update: Here’s a new one at DMiessler. And a good explanation for the major difference between this kind of threat for OS X and viruses for Windows.
