A new virus is dancing its way onto the Mac OSX platform. Named “Macarena”, the virus does little more than replicate itself, and doesn't pose much of a threat. But that's not the point. Simply being able to run executable code is bad enough.
Symantec predicts that the virus won't cause many problems for most users. However, I'm guessing that this is just a very slow beginning. The virus won't run on PowerPC chips, but takes advantage of things in the Intel architechture.
The severity though could be worse for some users. From a Symantec blog, “the virus writer has found a rather unexpected region of memory in which to place the code, along with a way to gain immediate control when an infected file is executed.”
But let's wait and see what happens. With any luck, we'll hear less snide comments from the Apple camp. Then again...
Cheers,
Ryan