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Symantec details OS X 'Macarena' virus
By Peter Cohen
November 3, 2006

Symantec has posted details about what it calls a “low risk level” virus affecting Mac OS X called OSX.Macarena. The company has already updated the daily virus definitions file used by its Norton Anti-Virus software for the Mac to address the problem.

Peter Ferrie’s writeup for Symantec describes OSX.Macarena as “a proof of concept virus that infects files in the current folder on the compromised computer.” OSX.Macarena “infects other files when they are executed in the current directory, regardless of file name or extension.”

Writing for The SANS Institute (a resource for information security training and certification), Section 66 security consultant Swa Frantzen said, “to be honest the virus is no big deal in itself. But it is yet another warning for a lot of parties involved.

“As we said before the ability to have viruses and all sorts of other malware is inherently available in all modern operating systems, Mac, Linux, BSD, … included,” Frantzen added. “It is a warning to get antivirus protection for those Macs, even if the shopkeeper told you you do not need it, even if there are no viruses in the wild today, even if it’s hard to buy it.”