Experts at SophosLabsâ„¢, Sophos’s global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have announced the discovery of the first virus for the Apple Mac OS X platform. The virus, named OSX/Leap-A (also known as OSX/Oompa-A) spreads via instant messaging systems.

The OSX/Leap-A worm spreads via the iChat instant messaging system, forwarding itself as a file called latestpics.tgz to contacts on the infected users’ buddy list. When the latestpics.tgz archive file is opened on a computer it disguises its contents with a JPEG graphic icon in an attempt to fool people into thinking it is harmless.

The worm uses the text “oompa” as an infection marker in the resource forks of infected programs to prevent it from reinfecting the same files. “Some owners of Mac computers have held the belief that Mac OS X is incapable of harboring computer viruses, but Leap-A will leave them shellshocked, as it shows that the malware threat on Mac OS X is real,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “Mac users shouldn’t think it’s okay to lie back and not worry about viruses.”

So what does this mean? Do I need to run out and get antivirus software for Mac OSX? No, you don’t. Instead, just make sure you set a password to your OSX account. Requiring you to enter a password everytime you want to install/update/etc anything on your system. So if you ever catch this virus, then happen to open it and so on, just make sure NOT to enter your admin password when asked for it to install it.

Details: OSX/Leap-A
Source: Sophos