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Re: A2Central News
In <eeorvn$3pa$1@merope.saaf.se> Paul Schlyter wrote:
>> If you read that page there has been _one_ virus for Mac OS X so far,
>> and even that has to get into the system via a trojan first. So
>> technically there aren't viruses on the Mac, just _a_ virus ;o)
>
> You probably realize yourself that there must have been more than one
> single Mac virus. This site for instance mention them in the plural
> sense: http://www.smallblue-greenworld.co.uk/pages/macintosh.html
There were a few (maybe 30?) viruses on the Mac during the 1980s and
1990s. Most of them broke with each update of the OS and none of them
can run on Mac OS X. There has so far only been one virus released for
Mac OS X (the default OS on all Macs for the last 5 years), and even
that is really a trojan. It requires user intervention to get it into
the system (trojan) and then it tries to infect applications (virus). It
is so ineffectual at spreading that it tends to stop at the first Mac.
Good description of how it works:
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102379
Apart from that there have been a couple of simple trojans which relied
on the user downloading a program and running it. Anyone can create a
script to delete the user's home folder, call it 'MS Office 2004 - full
version', and upload it to a filesharing network. It takes a special
kind of person to download a tiny program and expect it to be a full
version of MS Office though.
--
* Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand -> http://roger.geek.nz
* PS/2 Mouse Adapter for vintage Apple II or Mac
* SCART RGB cable for Apple IIGS