[iBook] First Real Mac Virus In Ten Years

[Robert Ameeti]

At 4:32 PM -0500, 2/19/06, Joel Esler wrote:

>Actually, your terms are backwards.  It's a virus.
>
>And a very crappy one at that.  What it most definitely is NOT is a WORM.
>
>J

And to that I'll disagree. As do McAfee, and Symantec, and Sophos. 
(Although Sophos says worms are a subcategory of viruses and as such, 
they want to call say it is a virus because it is a worm.)

Viruses are caught without any user intervention. They can ride along 
on other software but the use doesn't have to do anything to obtain 
one.

Trojans are received when a user thinks a file is something that is 
it not and unknowingly and purposefully lets it onto their computer.

Once a Trojan is received and has infiltrated your computer (by your 
actions), it can then have many purposes. This particular one 
attempts to be a worm but doesn't do it very well and only under 
limited circumstances that are not common. It is a worm because it 
attempts to modify other programs and have those programs muck with 
still more programs.
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Robert Ameeti

A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.
-- H. L. Mencken
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