First MacIntosh virus reportedly emerges

February 17, 2006 Apple logo

Apple's Mac OS X operating system appeared Friday to be under attack by a new virus.

Security companies and computer analysts were abuzz over the virus, which is dubbed Leap-A or Oompa Loompa and comes disguised as an image file.

The virus is significant in that it appeared to be the first virus capable of infecting Mac OS X, which until now had been considered impervious to viruses.

"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 shell-shocked," Graham Cluley, a technology consultant for security firm Sophos, said in a news release.

There was no immediate comment from Apple on Friday, but Sophos described Leap-A as spreading on the iChat messaging system via files tagged "latestpics.tgz."

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