Yes, there is some nasty news from the malicious code front. This time it’s not, like always, on the PC, but on our beloved Macs! This was something waiting to happen, though; the popularity is rising and so is the threat of viruses and Trojans.

The site Mac Rumors reported the following:

On the evening of the 13th, an unknown user posted an external link to a file on MacRumors Forums claiming to be the latest Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 screenshots. The file was named “latestpics.tgz.”

The resultant file decompresses into what appears to be a standard JPEG icon in Mac OS X but is actually a compiled Unix executable in disguise. An initial disassembly (from original discussion thread) reveals evidence that the application is virus-like or was designed to give that impression. Routines listed include:

• _infect:

• _infectApps:
• _installHooks:
• _copySelf:

The exact consequences of the application are unclear, but according to the users who originally executed the application, it appeared to self propagate.

To be honest, it’s still something you shouldn’t execute yourself! Consider yourself warned!

[tags]latestpics.tgz,os x trojan,application consequences[/tags]