|
| Most computer users believe Macs will be targeted
more often in future. |
A web poll of more than 600 computer users*, conducted by Sophos
in the wake of the discovery
of the first Mac OS X worm, has revealed that 79% believe Apple
Macintoshes will be targeted more in future. However, over half of
those polled said they did not believe the problem would be as
great as for Windows.
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, advised users
yesterday of the discovery of the OSX/Leap-A worm, which can
spread via the iChat instant messaging system.
"The bad news is that most people think the situation is going
to get worse for Macintosh users, and more threats will be targeted
against the Apple community. The good news is that most don't
believe it will ever be as big a problem as the one Microsoft
Windows faces," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "What's perhaps surprising is
that there are a hardcore element of 21% who believe that threat
attempts against Mac users will not grow."
"The correct response is to remain calm and take sensible
measures to protect your Mac computers in future," continued
Cluley. "The Leap-A worm isn't in itself a significant threat, but
it should act as a helpful reminder that malware can be written for
any computer and that the best protection is through sensible best
practise, firewalls, security patches and anti-virus technology.
Mac users cannot keep thinking that they are invulnerable to these
threats."
Survey results
Leap-A is the first virus for OS X. Do you think
in the future Macs will be targeted more often?
|
| Yes, but not as much
as Windows |
|
|
| Yes |
|
|
| No |
|
* Sophos web poll, 16-17 February 2006, 617
respondents.
Is Leap-A a virus or a Trojan?
Some members of the Apple Macintosh community have claimed that
OSX/Leap-A is a Trojan horse, and not a virus or worm, because it
requires user interaction (the user has to receive a file via
iChat, and manually choose to open and run the file contained
inside).
However, this is not the definition of a Trojan horse.
A Trojan horse is a seemingly legitimate computer program that
has been intentionally designed to disrupt and damage computer
activity. Importantly, Trojan horses do not replicate or have any
mechanism of spreading themselves. They have to be deliberately
planted on a website, or accidentally shared with another user, or
spammed out to email addresses. There is nothing inside a Trojan's
code to distribute themselves further to other victims.
Trojan horses do not contain any code to distribute or spread
themselves, viruses and worms do.
OSX/Leap-A is programmed to use the iChat instant messaging
system to spread itself to other users. As such, it is comparable
to an email or instant messaging worm on the Windows platform.
Worms are a sub category of the group of malware known as
viruses.
Therefore, it is correct to call OSX/Leap-A a virus or a worm.
It is not correct to call OSX/Leap-A a Trojan horse.
Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that this poll is not
scientific and is provided for information purposes only. Sophos
makes no guarantees about the accuracy of the results other than
that they reflect the choices of the users who participated.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.