Warning! Macs get an infection
Mac OS X users should be on the lookout for a virus called Leap.
Leap (OS X/Leap, also known as CME-4 ) is not a major threat and is
probably getting more media attention than it deserves, but the
virus does serve to remind us that not every computer virus is
confined to the Windows operating system. That said, Leap does not
affect Linux or Unix, although Mac OS X is based, in part, upon
Unix. Leap uses the Spotlight search within OS X and looks for the
opportunity to spread whenever the iChat app is opened.
Fortunately, Leap does not damage system files.
How it works
To become infected with Leap, Mac OS X users will first be asked to
open a file pretending to be images from the upcoming OS X release,
codenamed Leopard. The victims are sent, via iChat, a file named
latestpics.tgz, which, when opened, contains two files. Ironically,
due to an error in the internal code and not by design, once
latestpics.tgz is opened some Mac applications will fail to
run.
Prevention
If asked to accept a file via iChat with the name latestpics.tgz,
refuse. By not accepting the file, you can avoid infection.
Removal
A few antivirus software companies have updated their signature
files to include this Mac OS X virus. This will stop the infection
upon contact and in some cases will remove an active infection from
your system. For more information, see McAfee, Sophos, and
Symantec.
And just when we think this is an one-off incident, Antivirus
vendor F-Secure reported a second Mac OS X pest, Inqtana, which
spreads primarily using Bluetooth. Of the two, Mac OS X users
should consider Leap to be the greater risk. Leap can cause some
Mac applications not to run and, in some instances, crash the
infected machine.
taken from
asia.cnet.com