In one of my recent posts, I told Mac users that anti-virus software on OS X is worthless. I still stand by this statement, even in light of this new Trojan. I’ve heard of some OS X anti-virus solutions acting like a malicious virus themselves, so the cure may be worse than the disease.
This new trojan horse is not a virus per se. It comes in through an iChat session as what looks like a bundle of pictures. It looks like a JPEG but runs as an app when you double-click it. It’s a shell script and it can cause damage even when run as non-root. A scary thought, but I’m not entirely convinced this is even a threat worth mentioning.
That said, I don’t want to egg-on any would-be virus writers either. In any event, stand down red alert, act like the intelligent OS X user that you are and this stuff shouldn’t even affect you. I hope.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The cure IS worse than the disease.
I know this is not tech support, but I need some help. I deleted a folder full of pictures on my mac and I need a way to recover them. I have a very basic understanding of unix. My os is OS X Tiger. Any help would be great. Thanks for your time.
You know this isn’t tech support, but since you need help it’s ok to treat it like tech support?
“I know this isn’t a bar, but I need to get drunk. My girlfrind broke up with me and I need a way to drown my sorrows. So any liquor you have would be great–my preference is a Long Beach Iced Tea. Thanks for your time.”
Sorry. Didn’t mean to upset any one.
It’s not my blog; I’m not getting upset. Lol with me.
Hey, Pickleyes. You may be able to get back your deleted files.
Try using Data Rescue II. I had reasonable success recovering some files for a friend a while back with Data Rescue II.
YMMV.
-Scott
Thanks!!
Pickleyes