Yet Another MacOS Virus Hits the Wild

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Just a day after what is believed to be the first virus to target OS X was discovered, another one appears.

The Inqtana worm spreads through a flaw in Apple’s Bluetooth implementation. This vulnerability was already patched last June with security update 2005-006.

The worm attempts to use Bluetooth to propagate. Once it infects a computer it searches for other Bluetooth-enabled devices and sends itself to those it finds, Symantec said.

Inqtana is a “proof-of-concept” worm, according to Symantec and F-Secure, meaning it’s an example of attack code, but itself likely won’t affect many users, if any at all. Inqtana is not believed to have actually attacked Mac users. Furthermore, it uses a Bluetooth component that is locked to a specific address and expires next week, according to F-Secure.

“It is quite unlikely that Inqtana would be any kind of threat,” F-Secure said on its Web log. Source: News.com

We Say: Let’s not forget that using Bluetooth means you have to be within 30 feet … less, if the performance of my Bluetooth cellphone headset is any indicator. More interesting is that Apple insists that the Oompa Loompa virus Jimmy reported in that earlier story is not a virus … it’s malware because it requires user intervention.

Hey, let’s just admit you were targeted, that this will probably increase with Intel-based Macs, and that many Mac users feel complacent and don’t have AV protection at all.