Up until quite recently, a Macintosh user was able to remain mostly free from harmful worms and viruses on their computers. This is partially because of the fact that as Mac OS X is Unix based, the operating system is relatively secure against such attacks. Another possible reason could have to do with the fact that Mac has had a smaller market share than its main competitor. However, this entire situation changed a bit on the 14th of February 2006, when a new virus was introduced that specifically targets Macintosh users.
A file, latestpics.tgz, presents itself as a tar shipped screen shot from Mac OS 10.5. This file first struck at a popular site for Mac based rumors and info; visitors to the site quickly discovered that the file was a worm. Although this worm won t cause any real damage to the Mac it strikes, it instead infects your list of buddies on iChat. This worm will affect Macintosh computers running OS X 10.4 or later on a Power PC machine (not Intel). Sophos and Symantec have started to respond to the problem, but there isn t an easy workaround in place at the moment. An official security patch will probably be released by Apple, but in the meantime, users can add a folder with an action that will alert them if something has been added into the input management folder.
To activate, go to:
Library / InputManagers /
Then, right click (or control click) on the folder. Select *enable folder actions* if the folder is not yet enabled.
Right click or control click again on the same folder. Select *attach a folder action.* Then, select *add new item alert script* from the default folder, Folder Action Scripts.
When the task is completed, you will receive an alert the next time a file tries to place itself into the InputManagers folder.
REMEMBER: This is only a work around, not a complete fix. If you have an antivirus program that does contain a real fix for the problem, you should use these sources to solve the problem rather than those listed above.
Here are some tips for gaining better security for your Macintosh:
1 Run AV
2 Require that your machine collect a password after waking from sleep or screen saver
Apple Menu > System Preferences > Security > Require Password
3 Add an administration account in order to install software and complete other tasks. Have a non admin account for regular use
Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts > Add Admin Account. Next, downgrade to *standard,* remember password, log out and in again
4 Use secure passwords that use numbers, letters, and symbols. Turn off automatic login
/ Applications / Utilities / Keychain Access then click the *change keychain password dialogue.* Select password and enter the type and length in the assistant
5 Enable the firewall and turn off unused sharing features
Apple Menu > System Preferences > Sharing Services. Uncheck those you don t use.
Apple Menu > System Preferences
> Sharing > Firewall > Start!!
Following these tips can help keep your Mac more secure from viral attacks.
Author Resource:-
Nick Pegley is VP Marketing for All Covered: Technology Services Partner for Small Business, providing local disaster recovery consulting and technology services in 20 major U.S. metro areas. See: http://www.allcovered.com/technology/security.asp for more info.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.freebie-articles.com/images/rss.gif "XML Feed For RSS")
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites